Surf event uses helicopter to to force drone to crash… Looks like a Mavic Pro to me.
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Well that’s surreal.
When the guys below are trying to force it out of the sky why has the drone pilot not took it elsewhere.
For same reason he’s flying there in the first place when he shouldn’t be - judging by their determination to take him out. Because he’s a dick!
So many sports events like that ban drones (I know WRC do) - so he deserves what he gets.
Disconnect?
I’d imagine that, since he’s flying over water, he’d have set RTH on disconnect.
If not - he’s still a dick. 
Only reason they took it down was to protect their IP/income stream - not a good enough reason in my book.
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No - that’s one of the reasons they ban them at such events … and hence why he shouldn’t have been flying there in the first place … and hence why it was taken down. 
The real irony exists when I’d been asked not to fly and then the official DJI pilots manage this just 10 minutes later …
Grose acknowledged that the drone operator was flying their drone in a public place, and thus was doing so legally.
Quote from the source of the story…
he also drew attention to the potential dangers associated with flying it directly above competition participants, as well as close to the helicopter - however this doesn’t appear to be why it was interfered with and forced to crash - possibly illegally.
I don’t keep my copies of Wavelength any more to be able to find it - but that was not what was reported by them on the incident at the time.
The competition Marshall’s had attempted to throw objects at the drone to try and knock it out, when the failed, they called in the helicopter.
Now to my mind this was a deliberate act, the helicopter infringed upon the drone airspace with deliberate intent to force it to crash, in order to protect their intellectual rights sell any photographs. So the heli pilot should be grounded for deliberately forcing another aircraft to crash. This had bugger all to do with safety, but all about the money they make from exclusive photographs.
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Nice long rant about it - I agree with almost all the points the chap makes.
Drones are either aircraft or they’re not. Regulators can’t have it both ways.
(My opinion on Model AC and low flying manned AC follows)
As long as manned AC stay above 500ft except during take off and landing- (like they’re supposed to)
and…
As long as Model AC, (AKA Drones) stay below 400ft and well away from Airports / Helipads - (Like they have to)
Following the above rules - There is no risk to Manned AC from drones.
If you look at the logged flights, (freely available online - for all manned AC), of the most common low-flying AC in my area (Helicopters), their entire flight takes place no lower than 600ft UNTIL they are within approx 500m of their landing site, (either Howarden in NW / John Lennon - Liverpool / City Airport - West Manchester)
In fact from my own observations, flying as low as 600ft is rare for these Helicopters and their lower ceiling is usually 900ft but I have seen evidence of 600ft in their, (crowd-sourced), flight logs
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And that heli pilot should be fined,and lose his license,what a dick !!! Theres no excuse for taking down another aircraft imagine if the heli itself had crashed on to the idiots below…Shame it did not,
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Maybe the camera is pointing forward and not down, so he can’t see them directly below. He’s probably flying it while hiding in a bush somewhere so has no line of sight. Maybe…
I think this kind of action is like finding your car parking space with a random unauthorised car in it… and then trashing the car with a bat until its written off!
Whilst the drone pilot maybe should not have been there, the person in the helicopter forced the drone to crash where there were people below. Not only this, but the helicopter is flying low level over people! Drone crashing against person vs helicopter crashing against person… I know which option I’d prefer. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the drone had hit someone!
Not only this, but the helicopter breached aviation law and brought down another aircraft. I think this is a very important law that was broken and the pilot should be in court for this! If we are to utilise drones in the future for commercial deliveries, life safety, surveys, farming, etc… this kind of action could lead people to believe that its OK to bring drones down with no repercussion? If this is seen to be acceptable, then I’ll be waiting for my free amazon mystery box every time I see an Amazon drone fly past… OK I’m kidding, but I think this kind of action raises a serious issue for the commercial use of drones going forward! You can’t have a rule for one and a rule for another!
I’ve gotten into an argument about this somewhere, may even be on Grey Arrows, but both helicopter and drone pilot should be fined and in my opinion, both heads banged together hard for good measure…
It wasn’t here mate, we don’t do arguments…
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OH YES WE DO!!
(Oh - that’s pantomime … )
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OH NO WE DON’T!!
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Yeah I’ve found it now and it wasn’t here 