I posted one of my pics from the recent RTF competition on Facebook. Lots of positive comments and then one really odd one from a Kiwi friend of mine.
“We have had issues with a drone interferring with a major fire in south Auckland and all the helicopters were grounded because of that numbot idiot’s interference hampering an emergency situation.”
Now, i know there have been discussions on here and on YootYube about drones and their proximity to emergency service operations, but I thought I’d look into this one.
There seem to be a couple of incidents -
Now, I’m not condoning drone pilots getting in the way of the emergency services conducting operations, and I’d support the ‘numbot idiot’ getting every sanction appropriate under New Zealand law. But…
“The moment we get wind that there is a drone operating, we have to think about the safety of our pilots as well as our firefighters, and until we can eliminate that risk, we have to stop operations.”
The same occurred at the scene of a large industrial rubbish fire in Auckland’s Onehunga, said FENZ Auckland City assistant area commander Mike Manning.
“We had private drones that were being flown by some civilians over the fire.”
Two helicopters were used as part of the tactical operation which had to be immediately grounded due to safety concerns.
“You can imagine, a drone is very small and a helicopter is very large, and a drone versus a helicopter could be quite catastrophic,” Manning said.
“If they put a drone in the air in the vicinity of the emergency, it can really impede our operations.”
Assuming it’s a <250g drone - and statistically it’s likely to be - it’s at the small end of the weight range for a tarāpunga - a red-billed gull. There will have been hundreds of those in the area. Unlike the gull, it has an operating ceiling, moves predictably and displays nav lights. I’m 99% sure they don’t ground all of their rotary wing cabs when they see a gull…
adversary from the skies
Really?! Drone vs firefighting helicopter dogfights?
Emergency incidents
You must keep out of the way and not fly in any way that could hamper the emergency services when they’re responding to an emergency incident.
If you’re out flying at or near to an emergency incident when it happens, you must safely and immediately stop flying unless the emergency services give you permission to continue.
None of that is in question. The drone shouldn’t be there. The question is whether a single drone is really a sufficient reason to ground helicopters operating in an area full of birds that are heavier than the drone.
Health and safety has to be a balance and it feels like the tiny risk - compared to hitting a bird - of hitting a drone shouldn’t be enough to abandon fire fighting.
So that was a mavic 2, way more than the 250g (don’t know off top of head), damage yes, expensive repairs, absolutely. Having to ground the chopper for a while when fire fighting? Any danger to life, not really.
I believe you’re correct that the risks are very low, I’m pretty confident a manned aircraft wouldn’t have any/much issue with “SAFETY” if it hit a sub 250g drone.
BUT… it IS against the rules, and you must land in an emergency area. These things shouldn’t happen, and it’s up to us operators to ensure safety. Whilst filming a fire might be great footage, you wouldn’t stand in front of a fire engine trying to get to a fire to put out, so a drone shouldn’t be in the way of air support.
Chucking a stone into the path of a moving car probably won’t kill anyone (though probably much more likely that an aircraft hitting a drone!) , but you wouldn’t do it!
Again, we agree. They shouldn’t have flown there. It’s illegal and it’s stupid.
Legality aside, I’m still of the view that it’s more irresponsible to ground all of your firefighting helicopters and let things burn in order to avoid the negligible risk of hitting a gull-sized drone in an area full of gulls than it is to fly a gull-sized drone ‘near’ a fire.
Yep, yesterday he was very upset at one of my Faceache posts, so pulled the plug on Meta for an hour. ( don’t worry, one of his aides quickly calmed him down with a couple of paracetamols and a cup of coffee.)
It is not the drone impact that worries helicopter pilots, but rather the possibility of the drone getting sucked into the air intake. On a single-engined helicopter, that would, of course, bring it down.
I mean… clearly. That doesn’t prevent a discussion on whether they should have the rule… or why the rule applies to a single drone but not a flock of gulls…
