Greetings. I live in the middle of nowhere. I was not flying my quadcopter at the moment, however a small private plane just flew over the mountain behind my house and dipped approximately 75 feet above a Creek in front of my house and flew down the creek. If I had been flying it is very possible that it would have hit my Phantom. I would never want to hit an airplane obviously, however I am curious, if an airplane is a hundred or so feet above ground level and hits a drone whose fault is it?  I was just Mowing and it startled me, so glad I wasn't flying.

Airplanes can fly lower than 400 feet over unpopulated areas. If the area is populated (as it is in your case) the plane would have explaining to do to the FAA if reported. The rules you fly under say you must give way to manned aircraft, they do not differentiate, even if the pilot of the manned aircraft is breaking the rules, unfortunately.

Wow, I was afraid that last sentence was the case...there is little chance I could have gotten out of the way

kdcox Posted at 2016-9-2 08:17
Wow, I was afraid that last sentence was the case...there is little chance I could have gotten out o ...

Actually you could have got out of the way, that is one of the few situations that a mid-air CSC is called for.

kdcox Posted at 2016-9-2 08:17
Wow, I was afraid that last sentence was the case...there is little chance I could have gotten out o ...

But for a collision to occur, you'd have to be exactly where the plane is going to be.
Move twenty feet in any direction and there's no collision.
The chance that you would be exactly where the plane is going to be is very, very small.

I agree, labroides, I'm counting on statistics....two kinds.  1) I've lived here 20 years now, and flown Rc planes/helis/quads, and never have seen a plane do this... probably will never happen again.  2) the 50 foot diameter cylinder he's flying in would have to intersect my 1 foot cylinder which is exceedingly unlikely.  Just got me wondering. i just hate the thought of beating the odds.  Especially if I'm blamed for it lol.

Plus it just occurred to me, if I'm NOT on a.lawnmower I could probably have a little more time to hear him and move!  I feel better already!