This happened in my state....very scary! Idiots will never learn I guess....
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/a ... -being-investigated

Looks like fake news, what was a helicopter doing 50 ft above tree line, sound like a get out from a pilot who really made a big mistake.

Aardvark Posted at 2018-2-16 17:19
Looks like fake news, what was a helicopter doing 50 ft above tree line, sound like a get out from a pilot who really made a big mistake.

I was wondering the same thing...apparently it was a student pilot with a trainer....another news article said this about the incident: In the Charleston incident, the student was practicing low-altitude hovering in a remote area, according to the police report. As they turned the aircraft around to continue the lesson, a small white drone appeared, the instructor told police.
Apparently this happened in an area where there was no nearby airports...If this story is true, I wouldn't be surprised if the accident happened while the drone tried to see and avoid.

Aardvark Posted at 2018-2-16 17:19
Looks like fake news, what was a helicopter doing 50 ft above tree line, sound like a get out from a pilot who really made a big mistake.

I'm not willing to go that far, but I have my suspicions too about this "story" (that being the story from the pilot).  The primary reason, they were supposedly in a hover, if so, then why not remain there until they could best determine exactly what the threat was, after all, it's not like that drone running in to them or the rotors would cause catastrophic damage (I'm sure I'll hear form many about how that isn't so, let the debate begin).  However, it appears the pilot did a knee jerk reaction and over controlled it in to hitting a tree/shrubs.  I know too that this is Monday morning quarter backing it and hindsight is 20/20, and that is not really fair to the pilot, but it just sounds like this was an over reaction to a low level danger.  
Regardless, if it was a drone and even if it was not posing an immediate threat that operator was out of there...they had no business flying where they were doing what they were and if caught, I hope they are, they should be fined and made to pay damages.  When that starts happening then some of these idiots will start getting the clue that it won't pay to pull off crap like this or worse.

And apparently it maneuvered away from the drone.. then when landing the instructor clipped a tree, so real news.. 'helicopter sees drone'. If this was not a nfz should be have been flying so low or was it a restricted area? What's the FAA laws on helicopter flights?

Genghis9 Posted at 2018-2-16 17:46
I'm not willing to go that far, but I have my suspicions too about this "story" (that being the story from the pilot).  The primary reason, they were supposedly in a hover, if so, then why not remain there until they could best determine exactly what the threat was, after all, it's not like that drone running in to them or the rotors would cause catastrophic damage (I'm sure I'll hear form many about how that isn't so, let the debate begin).  However, it appears the pilot did a knee jerk reaction and over controlled it in to hitting a tree/shrubs.  I know too that this is Monday morning quarter backing it and hindsight is 20/20, and that is not really fair to the pilot, but it just sounds like this was an over reaction to a low level danger.  
Regardless, if it was a drone and even if it was not posing an immediate threat that operator was out of there...they had no business flying where they were doing what they were and if caught, I hope they are, they should be fined and made to pay damages.  When that starts happening then some of these idiots will start getting the clue that it won't pay to pull off crap like this or worse.

I think you are correct...That guy in New York city who crashed his drone into a Blackhawk Helicopter because he was out of VLOS they said it did a little damage to the rotors, nothing catastrophic, the pilot was able to land safely... I have to agree the helicopter pilot obviously did some stupid maneuver to cause him to hit  a tree, because it doesn't say the drone hit the helicopter.

calls4u2 Posted at 2018-2-16 17:49
And apparently it maneuvered away from the drone.. then when landing the instructor clipped a tree, so real news.. 'helicopter sees drone'. If this was not a nfz should be have been flying so low or was it a restricted area? What's the FAA laws on helicopter flights?

In this particular case the helo had the right of way, it was allowed to be there as much as the drone was.  As the article noted the drone was required to give right of way to the helo...

calls4u2 Posted at 2018-2-16 17:49
And apparently it maneuvered away from the drone.. then when landing the instructor clipped a tree, so real news.. 'helicopter sees drone'. If this was not a nfz should be have been flying so low or was it a restricted area? What's the FAA laws on helicopter flights?

One of the articles said it was in a remote area away from airports and helipads....As far as NFZ I assume because of the location there were no restrictions.  I live in the same state and its hard to find a place to fly because there are so many small grass field airports and helipads.

Sounds like a tree or bush made the helicopter crash.
Unless it came from above wouldn't the rotor wash push a phantom away and down?

“In what could be the first successful attempt to deflect blame for helicopter crash from unqualified student pilot and inattentive instructor pilot to an imaginary civilian drone.” FTFY.

Jeff

I just like how the story sounds like the instructor looked over saw the drone and then lost his mind and crashed.   Omg it's a drone, their going to get us

A bad case of over reaction even if a a drone was in site, which I’m not 100% certain was.

The FAA is not that easily fooled. These “I saw a drone” stories have been making their rounds at many a FSDO for a while now but most not going much further than that.  No certified flight instructor worth his salt would crash a helicopter because he saw a drone. Ridiculous and the FAA will probably see it that way too.

Why even within a mile of a tree would an instructor and student be practicing hovering?  Sounds like some hot dogging going on , even if it's true at all.

ALABAMA Posted at 2018-2-17 07:51
Why even within a mile of a tree would an instructor and student be practicing hovering?  Sounds like some hot dogging going on , even if it's true at all.

I totally agree, I could see it being done in a simulator, but why on earth would you wanna endanger yourself and your student and hover just above the tree lines. That poses so many risks as it is without the added supposed phantom. I would tend to think too that its one of the helicopter pilots that messed  up and said gee I know how to not get us in trouble for this, lets say there was a drone there.

Definitely going with pilot error, can we see the flight logs? Dji will no doubt ask for a video!

fansb1fe1104 Posted at 2018-2-17 13:35
I totally agree, I could see it being done in a simulator, but why on earth would you wanna endanger yourself and your student and hover just above the tree lines. That poses so many risks as it is without the added supposed phantom. I would tend to think too that its one of the helicopter pilots that messed  up and said gee I know how to not get us in trouble for this, lets say there was a drone there.

I tend to agree, and not only that, practising hover is a somewhat dangerous procedure, and should really be done at an airfield with no obstacles neaby, so the whole premise is quite dodgy.

Geebax Posted at 2018-2-17 16:43
I tend to agree, and not only that, practising hover is a somewhat dangerous procedure, and should really be done at an airfield with no obstacles neaby, so the whole premise is quite dodgy.

We clearly don’t know what was really going on with this pilot and trainee but my personal feeling is that this was a “drone of convenience” in order to try and explain whatever mistakes they made.  It’s very easy to simply say they were avoiding a drone. We’ve seen that excuse used in previous incidents and I suspect we will see a lot more of it.  Of course, it is possible that there really was a drone but my  current inclination is to call BS on their claim

well if this is true its a sad story for the drone community but Mr DJI maybe you can get the drones you make to fly safe again  

well if this is true its a sad story for the drone community, but Mr DJI maybe you can get the drones you make to fly safe again, before running out willing to fix the worlds problem, when you cant fix your ovn  drones, and make them safe to fly. maybe you can add a sensor for the problem..

Otto4 Posted at 2018-2-17 18:04
well if this is true its a sad story for the drone community, but Mr DJI maybe you can get the drones you make to fly safe again, before running out willing to fix the worlds problem, when you cant fix your ovn  drones, and make them safe to fly. maybe you can add a sensor for the problem..

The drones are safe now, the problem (if the story is true) is that some people fly recklessly and don't give way to manned aircraft. In this case if it is true, who knows the drone op could have been trying to see and avoid and that is what caused the accident. I found a pretty cool app other day called flight radar24. It shows on map where the planes are flying and what altitude they are at....only thing that sucks about this app (which this app would not be applicable to the above news incident. Helicopters are not shown on this app, the reason being something to do with only most planes have something that transmits whatever it is that shows up on the app and most helicopters don't have this feature....I read supposedly this will be mandatory in all aircraft by 2020. I have helicopters that sometimes seem to be flying just over the tree tops and they don't show up on the radar.

Part of the training a student helicopter pilot receives is called "Landing in confined areas"
Normally when landing you need to be near the ground....

Seeing a drone should not cause you to fly into a tree. You see birds, big ones, all the time and they don't make you fly into a tree, you just ignore them.
Birds have a sense of self preservation, so do drones when controlled by a competent operator.

What annoys me most about all this is that the news headline is "Drone causes helicopter crash" when there is not enough (or indeed any) evidence.

dorbot Posted at 2018-2-20 23:10
Part of the training a student helicopter pilot receives is called "Landing in confined areas"
Normally when landing you need to be near the ground....

I agree 100%...since there was no crash involved, the only evidence would be flight logs from the drones....DJI is said to be cooperating with the investigation in other news articles. Unless the op synched his flight records with DJI, there will be no evidence (if indeed it is true and not some idiot pilot in the copter who saw a drone as the perfect scapegoat).

Bad piloting caused the helicopter to crash. Trees are more dangerous than drones yet the pilot opted to hit a tree instead of a lightweight plastic drone. Let's put this in perspective. Let's say you are driving down a winding road, come around a bend and find Phantom 4 drone hovering directly in front of you. Do you A: swerve violently and risk causing your car to spin off the road into a tree. B: grit your teeth and smack into the drone. Having had this same choice with various other items in my path when driving, I usually opt for option B.