Drones and Common Sense Rant

[A Life Aloft]

Everyone pretty much understands that in Ca. we have severe issues every year with wildfires. Since we have been in a drought condition for the last few years, the situation has become even worse. Currently we have burning the Calgrove Fire, the Loma Fire, the Corrine Fire, just suppressed the Park Hill Fire and the worst thus far- The Lake Fire out in San Bernadino which had burned over 24k acres and is only about 21% contained.

So what happens yesterday? All the firefighting planes (two DC-10's) and all the helos dropping water and fire retardant, had to be recalled to their bases and grounded because two different idiots were flying hobby drones over the fire. The hundreds of fire crews on the ground (which are scattered throughout the area, and their equipment- plus the homes and structures in the area- many of which have been evacuated with evacuations ongoing) were left without any air support or protection. Containment had been at 38% because of the efforts of the air support and fell to 21% after the grounding of all the planes and helos.

Everyone knows that these aircraft have to fly at very low altitudes and the last damn thing we need is Bobby Jo out there with his birthday drone trying to get a better view of the fire to post into his You Tube account and possibly endangering lives. So both of these idiots didn't care and flew over and into the restricted airspace of the fire zone. One drone was flown directly in the path of one of the Fire Tankers and one drone was spotted just leaving the area where the helos were working!

 

[PIL0T FISH]

The media should start paying attention to this as well as they are using more and more drones to capture video footage of the story.

Bad @ss pics btw

 

[A Life Aloft]

Besides the fire now having grown/spread so much since the groundings, there are so many crews out there on the ground already risking their lives, but counting on the air support if they need it to save them and even more homes/property were put into harm's way. I am so angry over this. Hopefully the flights will resume today. If I had my wish, I'd be sending out a Blackhawk escort to find their asses and fire off a few rounds in their direction and shoot the drones down. That would put a stop to this nonsense in a damn hurry.

 

[PIL0T FISH]

This would be the best way to take care of it

 

[Fireflights]

I flew fire for close to eight years, and the reality of bogies over the fire was always on our minds.
The worst I saw was when I -repeatedly- chased off one particular moron in a 182, who'd circle to the other side and try to sneak back in to rubberneck. We had four SEATs and a helo on that one. Scary stuff, but at least you could see the plane. A drone would be near invisible in fire conditions. Hopefully somebody will track down the operators and glory-stomp the ignorance out of their feeble asses.

As for common sense, it's so rare anymore it should count as a superpower.

 

[A Life Aloft]

There's a reporter on channel 5 at SBD right now showing the tankers on the ground and talking about the incident. The regulations are in place, good luck getting non professional morons to follow them and even have a clue what restricted air space means, because you apparently cannot even count on anyone having any common sense at this point. Meanwhile, the fire continues to grow and the air attack using the helos and planes is crucial. The fire is expected to last at least another week now.

It was the pilot of one of the tankers who spotted the drone right in his path and called it in. As they were leaving the area to return back to SBD, they spotted the second drone.

Flying the firefighting helos and planes is already so damn inherently dangerous and tricky enough, especially in these mountainous terrains, without this crap. The last distraction that the pilots need to worry about is hitting some damn drone.

 

[Fireflights]

The regulations are in place, good luck getting non professional morons to follow them and even have a clue what restricted air space means, because you apparently cannot even count on anyone having any common sense at this point.
Flying the firefighting helos and planes is already so damn inherently dangerous and tricky enough, especially in these mountainous terrains, without this crap. The last distraction that the pilots need to worry about is hitting some damn drone.

I couldn't agree more. When their property gets cindered because of the air support withdrawal, it'll hit the operator that "I didn't help things with my quadcopter." "Maybe I even made it worse."
It'll never happen, but that sad little voice that still has hope for humanity says "Maybe..."

If I was CalFire, I'd be tempted to pull ALL crews off of the active line until the dumbassery ceases.

 

[PositionAndHold]

Shotguns. No questions asked. You see a drone over a fire during aerial operations, open season. Cops like shooting stuff. They have shotguns. Just sayin.

 

[A Life Aloft]

It gets better........ back at SBD a press conference is in process.......The pilot states that the first drone flew directly between his tanker and the lead plane. The pilot also states that it was about a 4 foot fixed wing drone of some type. So we aren't talking about some small quadcopter here then. Good grief! They had to abandon dropping their load of retardant and their subsequential planned drops for the rest of the day. Something like that could smash into the cockpit area of one of the helos or into one of it's blades as well.

FAA and Law Enforcement are investigating, they are evaluating the situation currently and hope to send the aircraft and helos back up today.

 

[A Life Aloft]

Shotguns. No questions asked. You see a drone over a fire during aerial operations, open season. Cops like shooting stuff. They have shotguns. Just sayin.

We have plenty of these guys right near me over at KSLI. Give them something more interesting to do besides flying around over the golf course, the Katella Deli, the race track and the Costco. lol

 

[Fireflights]

At those speeds and altitudes, any impact at all, or even an evasive maneuver could easily end in a crash.
I've zero tolerance for this personally, and hope they find the RC flying mouth-breather and "educate" them. With a pair of pliers and a blowtorch.

 

[Fireflights]

My suggestion for a new Air Attack platform.

 

[esa17]

And what if it were a toy RC plane without a camera? Would it still be a drone then?

The guys flying these toys are D-bags of the highest order but there isn't a whole lot you can do about it. The one thing that can be done, they won't do because the FCC won't allow it.

It doesn't matter what prompts it, you can't legislate stupid away.

 

[A Life Aloft]

And what if it were a toy RC plane without a camera? Would it still be a drone then?

The guys flying these toys are D-bags of the highest order but there isn't a whole lot you can do about it. The one thing that can be done, they won't do because the FCC won't allow it.

It doesn't matter what prompts it, you can't legislate stupid away.

At this point and in this situation, I'd like to see a Sheriff's chopper on standby nearby to find their asses if this happens again, for some sort of security for the 3 air tankers, the 2 DC-10s, 18 helicopters and four support planes that had to be grounded yesterday. The cost of all that wasted man-power, aircraft and the costs of materials in having to dump their loads in a safe location and not on the fire area before landing would certainly pay for this. Not to mention how much the fire was then allowed to spread after the grounding.

 

[esa17]

All you need is two spectrum analyzers and it can be done with ease. Fine the crap out of them once caught.

The easiest thing to do would be to jam their control frequencies.

 

[A Life Aloft]

All you need is two spectrum analyzers and it can be done with ease. Fine the crap out of them once caught.

The easiest thing to do would be to jam their control frequencies.

I'd like fine them a huge amount of money, and jail time for 6 months for the grounding of the 27 aircraft, endangering the lives of the pilots and the ground crews, allowing the fire to spread and publicize it all over the place to try and stave off more idiots. Maybe even stick their asses out on the line in the middle of the worst of the fire area with a Hotshot crew and see how they endure that. The harsher the better.

 

[MikeD]

I

If I was CalFire, I'd be tempted to pull ALL crews off of the active line until the dumbassery ceases.

You have to. Pull them back to defensive lines, especially if there is no life/property risk. They can burnout or dig line, where air support isn't necessarily needed, rather than work offensively where it would be.

 

[MikeD]

My suggestion for a new Air Attack platform.

Were already used as firebombers. Did yeoman's work too.

Too bad all the old stuff was finally canned.

 

[esa17]

I'd like fine them a huge amount of money, and jail time for 6 months for the grounding of the 27 aircraft, endangering the lives of the pilots and the ground crews, allowing the fire to spread and publicize it all over the place to try and stave off more idiots. Maybe even stick their asses out on the line in the middle of the worst of the fire area with a Hotshot crew and see how they endure that. The harsher the better.

I'd be in favor of the "chain-gang" style idea except for it would endager the crews to have to baby sit those idiots. Instead, make them part of the clean up crews and fine them a percentage of the property damage and lost income for the fire fighters.

 

[A Life Aloft]

You have to. Pull them back to defensive lines, especially if there is no life/property risk. They can burnout or dig line, where air support isn't necessarily needed, rather than work offensively where it would be.

That's the problem, there are many homes, ranches and active camping areas located throughout the area in various locations, some having been evacuated, some evacuated last night and more surely to follow today and they had a detrimental wind shift yesterday and really needed the air support. There are over 2,000 firefighters from various entities out there now. They've hauled in crews from all over the state now. They even wrapped some of the camp cabins with heat shields because the crews had to move on to other worsening areas.