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US firefighters have condemned drone owners who flew their craft near forest fires and grounded helicopters being used to douse flames.
Lives were put at unnecessary risk because helicopters could not fly, said fire department officials. The helicopters were helping to contain a large wildfire in San Bernadino county over the weekend. Five drones spotted hovering over the fire were thought to be shooting video for their owners.
The activity of the drones meant helicopters were grounded for about 20 minutes, Eric Sherwin of the San Bernadino fire department told CNN.
[...]
"When a hobby drone is flown into a fire area, incident commanders have no choice but to suspend air operations and ground aircraft until the drone is removed from the area," it said.The fire department issued images that were shared on social media, warning drone owners to stay away from fires. "If you fly, we can't," they said.
US rules governing drone use mean any pilot caught flying their craft over a disaster area that has temporary flight restrictions in place could be fined up to $25,000 (£16,000). It is not clear whether the FAA is going to investigate who was piloting the drones over the Interstate 15 fire.
Drones have hindered firefighters in California at least four times before now, sometimes stopping flights for up to 90 minutes.
(Score: 5, Informative) by janrinok on Tuesday July 21 2015, @03:55PM
In a word - Yes
Having spent a fair proportion of my military career as aircrew, I have seen the danger posed by bird strikes at first hand. A bird can sometimes penetrate a cockpit window and incapacitate the front seater in a two-seat jet. I know of a large 4-jet patrol aircraft that was brought down by geese. Personally, when flying a 4-jet in the US, we lost an engine - literally - to a bird strike. The engine was taken out and is probably lying in a big hole somewhere over Nebraska. The bird in this instance was an eagle. Many airfields, both civilian and military carry, out bird scaring operations to ensure that birds either land or fly away, making it safe for aircraft to operate.
But small objects cause their own problems. Even though a small bird or drone might not bring the aircraft down, it could easily force the pilot to land at the first opportunity to assess the damage so as to prevent any unnecessary risk to the crew and people under the aircraft's flightpath. Even the loss of one engine might easily affect the aircraft's ability to continue in its role, and could also result in an engine fire or other damage. Replacing an aircraft engine, or just repairing a damaged engine or airframe, can take a significant time.
And all this just so some idiot can fly his drone near a fire? Simply not worth the risk.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2015, @04:59PM
I live in Nebraska. I would be interested in a slightly used jet engine. Where did you say it fell again?