This is a shout out to all our Dutch friends flying out there. 2nd time I have seen this about using birds of prey to take down our birds. The UK in some area's already have it in place -

https://vdr.one/dutch-police-has ... o-take-down-drones/

7 december 2017
"The Dutch police stops using specially trained birds of prey to remove unwanted drones from the air.

Not only is the training, keeping and use of the birds of prey more difficult than expected, there is also less demand for the birds of prey than expected.

In addition, the technological development of drones is fast and requires different measures."

https://www.dronewatch.nl/2017/12/07/politie-gaat-geen-roofvogels-meer-inzetten-om-drones-te-stoppen/

I must say I am totally against this. You could have a gust of wind move the drone, or the bird mis judges the catch and gets its crop ripped open or other damage. I gather they put anklets on to protect the birds legs, but there are other parts of the bird that could get damaged.

Interesting article - thanks for sharing

Mullheliflier Posted at 2018-3-18 02:07
I must say I am totally against this. You could have a gust of wind move the drone, or the bird mis judges the catch and gets its crop ripped open or other damage. I gather they put anklets on to protect the birds legs, but there are other parts of the bird that could get damaged.

Agree with that one. I would much rather it be shot down instead of possible damage to the bird. Would chop a foot off if it got the attack angle wrong. How many were injured in the training would be a good question to ask them.?? But then again, If you don't fly like a doosh in the 1st place, you have nothing to be concerned about.

CoreyB10 Posted at 2018-3-18 02:15
Agree with that one. I would much rather it be shot down instead of possible damage to the bird. Would chop a foot off if it got the attack angle wrong. How many were injured in the training would be a good question to ask them.?? But then again, If you don't fly like a doosh in the 1st place, you have nothing to be concerned about.

Understandibly, there was a lot of public resistance against animals being used to take drones down. I don't think it was a good idea to begin with either.

Shooting drones down however is not a solution, because it will go down uncontrollably, and that was the main objective in using eagles, so that they can take drones out of potentially hazardous enviroments, like above crowds and such.

Thanks for sharing with us. Hope more pilots be aware of this and fly legally.

For the dutch guys along us, you can protect your mavic pro a little bit from attacking birds of prey with a red skin.
https://forum.dji.com/thread-139177-1-1.html
if you have intrest PM me.

Most governments have given up on this idea. The birds were not as reliable as they had hoped as well as the concern over the large commercial drones that could take down the bird and keep going.

DroneDriver Posted at 2018-3-19 02:57
Most governments have given up on this idea. The birds were not as reliable as they had hoped as well as the concern over the large commercial drones that could take down the bird and keep going.

I bet the dog in your avatar would get the job done

DroneDriver Posted at 2018-3-19 02:57
Most governments have given up on this idea. The birds were not as reliable as they had hoped as well as the concern over the large commercial drones that could take down the bird and keep going.

2 Choices - Drone or big fat Wabbit.....Instinct wins every time...

It was one of the most stupid ideas ever. No sane bird trainer supported it. It was a waste of money, as most things here in NL.

Not anymore.
As some have pointed out (and lot's thought on forehand) this was not the best idea ever

LoSBoL Posted at 2018-3-19 03:03
I bet the dog in your avatar would get the job done

Heeey. What dog? That's my girl friend...

Seems like an unnecessarily large expenditure of resources to tackle a drone problem.. OR is there actually a huge drone problem in NL?  Do you see many flying all over in the NL?

Agree with the folks above, but I do worry a bit about terrorists using drones for attacks.  Some kind of interception will definitely need to come into play to combat that threat.  I know they have nets and radio interceptors.  Hopefully that'll be enough.

Oh, not Dutch pilots by bloodline but anyone flying in that country.  I thought the drone was doing something to us.  

I still think it would be easier to armor up some cheap race drones, with or without cameras, and just fly them into the big expensive camera drone.  The police would have a blast learning to intercept intruding aircraft.  And it would be fun handing the wayward Inspire owner a tissue when he gets his drone back in a small parts bag.

Gunship9 Posted at 2018-3-21 18:07
Oh, not Dutch pilots by bloodline but anyone flying in that country.  I thought the drone was doing something to us.  

I still think it would be easier to armor up some cheap race drones, with or without cameras, and just fly them into the big expensive camera drone.  The police would have a blast learning to intercept intruding aircraft.  And it would be fun handing the wayward Inspire owner a tissue when he gets his drone back in a small parts bag.

Definitely a great spectacle to watch from below. Probably bring some extra tissues though, there might be a little colleteral damage.


This is the only event I've seen that the Eagle was standing by, ready to intercept.

StanfordWebbie Posted at 2018-3-21 17:33
Agree with the folks above, but I do worry a bit about terrorists using drones for attacks.  Some kind of interception will definitely need to come into play to combat that threat.  I know they have nets and radio interceptors.  Hopefully that'll be enough.

Unfortunately, radio signal jammers are forbidden by law in the whole of Europe.