Drone nearly clips police copter at G.W bridge

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I thought you might be interested in this article from the Daily News.
The Daily News app is available on Apple and Android tablets and phones.

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Drone nearly clips cop-ter

Mark Morales and Shayna Jacobs
TWO MANHATTAN men were arrested early Monday after they piloted a drone close to the George Washington Bridge and nearly struck an NYPD helicopter, police sources said. Wilkins Mendoza, 34, and Remy Castro, 23, were remotely piloting the Phantom drone as it flew near the Hudson River crossing, at about 800 feet in the air, around midnight, the sources said. An NYPD helicopter crew spotted the drone and observed the unmanned aircraft as it circled the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge over the Harlem River about 12:20 a.m., the sources said.

At one point, the NYPD helicopter pilot had to veer off course to avoid being struck by the drone, the sources said. The helicopter crew followed the drone and watched it touch down at Fairview Ave. and Fort George Hill in Inwood. Mendoza and Castro, both of Inwood, were arrested at the landing zone at 12:34 a.m., and police also recovered a second drone, the sources said. Both were charged with reckless endangerment. They were waiting to be arraigned as of late Monday night.



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As we say here in Ireland, "Slap it up 'em". Maybe a good hefty fine will put others off doing reckless flying.
1) At Night
2) Over congested area
3) At 800 ft
4) Excuse - was 'for fun and games' (from another article)
5) Controlled airspace (maybe)

From the New York Post...
“It’s just a toy,” Castro (pilot) said later at Manhattan Criminal Court, where they were arraigned on felony reckless endangerment charges and released without bail. “The copter came to us.”

Mendoza said the drone experiment was just fun and games.

“We were just playing with it,” he said. “It’s crazy.”
 
IrishSights said:
As we say here in Ireland, "Slap it up 'em". Maybe a good hefty fine will put others off doing reckless flying.
1) At Night
2) Over congested area
3) At 800 ft
4) Excuse - was 'for fun and games' (from another article)
5) Controlled airspace (maybe)

From the New York Post...
“It’s just a toy,” Castro (pilot) said later at Manhattan Criminal Court, where they were arraigned on felony reckless endangerment charges and released without bail. “The copter came to us.”

Mendoza said the drone experiment was just fun and games.

“We were just playing with it,” he said. “It’s crazy.”


Exactly this type of complete frickin' idiot is what will eventually handcuff our entire community. You just can't fix stupid... Although... something doesn't ring entirely true. If the cop chopper pilot spotted the drone... Why was he flying so close to it that he had to take evasive action? This leaves a mild scent of male cow excretion in the air...

-slinger
 
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Charges will be reduced or completely dropped

1. Flight was over water not crowd
2. At 800 feet at night the phantoms lights allow line of sight viewing
3. The police appear to have intentionally flown towards the phantom, not the other way around.
4. 'Maybe' won't work in court regarding restricted airspace. Either the airspace was or was not FAA restricted
 
phantomguy said:
Charges will be reduced or completely dropped

1. Flight was over water not crowd
2. At 800 feet at night the phantoms lights allow line of sight viewing
3. The police appear to have intentionally flown towards the phantom, not the other way around.
4. 'Maybe' won't work in court regarding restricted airspace. Either the airspace was or was not FAA restricted

If he was only at 800 feet he wasn't in FAA controlled airspace; as the floor of the NYC Class B there appears to be 1300 feet MSL (or 1300 feet AGL as the average altitude there appears to be about sea level).

Of course the GW has long been mentioned as being watched closely as it has been assumed to be a target of terrorists. This is what might get him in hot water. I say might however.
 
The problem these jerks are gonna run into is the laws that prohibit phhotography of the bridges due to 9/11. If these guys had been flying at 300 feet maybe they wouldnt have gotten caught. Its obvious the copter probably saw it and went after it and the cops are claimiing they almost hit it. I guess if your in a chase with a copter you lose.
 
This was being discussed on one of the facebook pages for UAV legal news.

There are a lot of missing or contradicting "facts" about this article.

The cops say they were up 2000ft. That is feasable.
However, the price they paid for the phantoms was rather low. FC40 or Phantom 1 prices. So they could or could not have video of it. If they did have a vision, then its video would tell them how high they really were.

The lawyer calls it a "vehicle" and states it's only capable of 300ft.
We all know that is wrong.
Unless he is speaking is regards to the FC40, which has about a 300ft video range stock. After which, the user will lose video.
However, this is at night and the FC40 cam sucks for night flying.

So assuming they have zero video, they went up 2000ft, with no visual range and were able to land back safely?

They could have initiated RTH though.

There are key facts missing that will land us at the full story
 
gunslinger said:
Exactly this type of complete frickin' idiot is what will eventually handcuff our entire community. You just can't fix stupid... Although... something doesn't ring entirely true. If the cop chopper pilot spotted the drone... Why was he flying so close to it that he had to take evasive action? This leaves a mild scent of male cow excretion in the air...
-slinger

Totally agree - they played it up.
 
most of the news sites are saying the pair was charged with a crime but not saying what it is... the more thorough sites are pointing out they were charged with class D misdemeanor reckless endangerment, and that only because the police helicopter pilot "felt threatened". Flying a drone is currently not a crime (although probably soon) the only crimes are what do DO with the drone for example voyeurism or reckless endangerment if flown over a crown or otherwise unsafe activity. Remember the asshat recently who flew into the baseball stadium? he wasn't charged because he didn't break any laws.

I hope those charges get dropped, the police pilot noticed the drone and flew towards it... the drone pilots (supposedly) didn't move towards the helicopter in which case he'd have a legit claim. but if HE moved toward the drone then what we have here is probably a simple case of the cops needing to justify their activity and trumping up whatever bs charge they can. I don't think NY/NJ cops have any history of that do they?
#mynypd
 
Since they took off from the NYC side of the river they were in Class B airspace for LaGuardia. I'm betting the FAA will be interested in this since it is what they reportedly fined the other NYC incident (hitting buildings) for. Illegal operation in Class B airspace. Plus if they got more than 1,300 AGL they were back in the Class B airspace.
 
QYV said:
most of the news sites are saying the pair was charged with a crime but not saying what it is... the more thorough sites are pointing out they were charged with class D misdemeanor reckless endangerment, and that only because the police helicopter pilot "felt threatened". Flying a drone is currently not a crime (although probably soon) the only crimes are what do DO with the drone for example voyeurism or reckless endangerment if flown over a crown or otherwise unsafe activity. Remember the asshat recently who flew into the baseball stadium? he wasn't charged because he didn't break any laws.

I hope those charges get dropped, the police pilot noticed the drone and flew towards it... the drone pilots (supposedly) didn't move towards the helicopter in which case he'd have a legit claim. but if HE moved toward the drone then what we have here is probably a simple case of the cops needing to justify their activity and trumping up whatever bs charge they can. I don't think NY/NJ cops have any history of that do they?
#mynypd

Here is Greg McNeal helping out again! :)
Thank god he actually does his job and gathers information

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregorymcne ... -arrested/
 
SilentAV8R said:
Since they took off from the NYC side of the river they were in Class B airspace for LaGuardia. I'm betting the FAA will be interested in this since it is what they reportedly fined the other NYC incident (hitting buildings) for. Illegal operation in Class B airspace. Plus if they got more than 1,300 AGL they were back in the Class B airspace.

Google maps says that it's 5.9 miles straight line from the northeast edge of LGA to the NY side of the GWB, over 6.5 from the center of LGA to the same point.
These guys weren't charged with violating any airspace or FAA regs, see my previous post although apparently I was wrong and it's a FELONY reckless endangerment, the first article I read earlier this morning made it seem like it was a misdemeanor which the article points out is where it'll probably wind up. The cops will have to have video of the drone intentionally moving towards the chopper at a very short distance to keep that felony charge alive.

good forbes article. that's exactly all our points... existing regulations already cover this activity. won't stop the general public from freaking out or more bs restrictive laws getting passed I'm afraid
I just hope they leave a legit channel for people to get certified and still enjoy our hobby

Ironically, we don't even know for sure these are Phantoms, do we?
 
QYV said:
Ironically, we don't even know for sure these are Phantoms, do we?

TBH, for the prices paid, experience (or lack thereof) of the operators, it's a strong possibility that they are phantoms
 
dragonash said:
QYV said:
Ironically, we don't even know for sure these are Phantoms, do we?

TBH, for the prices paid, experience (or lack thereof) of the operators, it's a strong possibility that they are phantoms

lol I know but still... there are quite a few other types out there.
 
dragonash said:
QYV said:
most of the news sites are saying the pair was charged with a crime but not saying what it is... the more thorough sites are pointing out they were charged with class D misdemeanor reckless endangerment, and that only because the police helicopter pilot "felt threatened". Flying a drone is currently not a crime (although probably soon) the only crimes are what do DO with the drone for example voyeurism or reckless endangerment if flown over a crown or otherwise unsafe activity. Remember the asshat recently who flew into the baseball stadium? he wasn't charged because he didn't break any laws.

I hope those charges get dropped, the police pilot noticed the drone and flew towards it... the drone pilots (supposedly) didn't move towards the helicopter in which case he'd have a legit claim. but if HE moved toward the drone then what we have here is probably a simple case of the cops needing to justify their activity and trumping up whatever bs charge they can. I don't think NY/NJ cops have any history of that do they?
#mynypd

Here is Greg McNeal helping out again! :)
Thank god he actually does his job and gathers information

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregorymcne ... -arrested/


Holy crap... An objective reporter !!! Who knew??? :D
Nicely done article...

-slinger
 
Also, the article claims they paid 400-600 for the drones...they would have been better off, just landing the **** thing..wherever it was in the hudson river...losing the drone for a 600 dollar loss....running away..they would have had a difficult time finding them...now they had to hire a lawyer..how much is that going to cost..and they have a potential of a huge fine...maybe 5000 dollars..my question to all..is isnt it kind of reckless for a helicopter to fly after a drone thats coming down in a residential neighborhood...they could have caused alot more damage if the copter would have clipped a building? no...so where why is it okay for them to be irresponsible..and chasing the drone.they could have collided with it also..near the GW. The whole thing is a dog and pony show for the NEW YORK POST. which is out to put an end to drone flying..they are coming out with a negative drone article about every other day now...it sells newspapers.
 
I wonder if the the hobby enthusiasts were receptive to the cops or complete butts. Maybe their reaction could have saved them from this situation.

Who knows!
 
This is what Shep Smith just reported on Fox was being flown. They mentioned the DJIP2. I would just love to know why it's 'Ok' for a NYPD heli to chase a 'Drone' in the first place and at what cost?
 

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I live in Edgewater NJ on the Hudson River. I was thinking about flying around the River this weekend for the first time to capture some cool NYC skyline shots but now I'm not too sure that's a good idea... Don't fancy being stopped by over zealous cops ..
 

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