Whoa phantom near miss with low flying heli

[GoodnNuff]

Orlando,
Here's the thing.....Manned aircraft have the right of way.....Period.

If you are flying your Phantom at a designated Drone airpark....and a Cessna comes to make an emergency landing (or even approaches) YOU the Phantom pilot must yield way. Never, ever the manned aircraft.

Doesn't matter who is "right or wrong".

Human lives trumps hobby flights every time.
This is the exact reason the FAA clearly says visual unaided Line of Sight MUST be maintained at all times.

I'm all for this hobby, but I would crash my Phantom without a second thought if it meant getting out of the way of a manned aircraft.

I fly fixed wings at a flying club in a rural area in the foothills of the Cascades outside of Seattle. We've had two manned aircraft make emergency landings at our field in the last few years. Of course we immediately ground our planes when we see them signal that they will be landing. One was a motorized paraglider who had engine problems. The other was a military Black Hawk Helicopter. He circled the field slowly coming lower until we realized he needed to land and we grounded our unmanned aircraft. Within a few minutes a second Black Hawk landed and we were all politely asked to leave the field and not return until both copters had left. They did some repairs (?) to the first Black Hawk which took several hours, then left.
The motorized paraglider said that they mark RC flying fields on their maps, because they make the perfect, safe emergency landing field.

 

[JKDSensei]

Good example. Some people new to the RC hobby may not yet be aware of all the implications of using the NAS overhead.
They don't mean any harm, they are just unaware. Maybe a per-requisite to flying any RC aircraft could have been an online test you had to pass? Dunno? Just loud thinking.

Or maybe just an extra large sticker could be included with every RC aircraft.....

And Remember kids....
MANNED AIRCRAFT ALWAYS HAVE RIGHT OF WAY...no excuses.

 

[treerichard]

looks like in the video soon as he saw the helicopter he was moving away from him . The helicopter was there in an instant..

 

[JKDSensei]

looks like in the video soon as he saw the helicopter he was moving away from him . The helicopter was there in an instant..

I can usually hear an aircraft approaching from a long distance. When I "think" I hear a plane or helicopter headed my direction I immediately try to get lower and closer to me until I'm sure. The plane or helicopter may not get really close...but....better safe than sorry. Just me.

 

[WetDog]

The Phantom pilot's name is 'antisober128'. Not sure if I'd expect a whole lot out of that guy. Yep, if I hear a chopper, I land or put it just above the treeline. Typically you can hear them from a distance although in the case of Mr. antisober, the breaking shore, the cliffs and possibly other noise sources might have masked it.

That said, it appears that both pilots actually behaved correctly. It looks like the helicopter rolled away although that might have been part of turn and our protagonist pulled the UAV closer to the rocks.