Rob2160

I think too many people are now quick to believe it WAS a plastic bag...

There is absolutely no evidence it was a plastic bag. That is total speculation also.

I am sitting on the sidelines watching several different threads on this and it is very interesting to watch "Confirmation Bias" in action.

The very same people who "adamantly refused to accept it was a drone until they saw proof" are now fully accepting and even stating definitively that it WAS a plastic bag - yet there is still no proof.

Its too funny.

I don't know what the aircraft hit, (if anything) so I keep an open mind - we may actually never know.

As for the media - of course they will sensationalise reports like this - that is how they get viewers / readers and revenue.

If a confirmed drone impact ever occurs they will go nuts over it.

Sport_Pilot

I suspect it was an eye floater. They should have the pilots eye's checked.

http://www.myeyes.com/symptoms/spots-in-vision.shtml

init4fun

Leave it to Rob to go bringing good ol fashioned logic into this here thread ........

Without having any pieces of what was hit , from having been either embedded in the aircraft or positively identified as being from the incident found in the area on the ground , and of course no video of the incident , there really is no possible way to tell what it hit . Now there is no way also I'm gonna sit here and suggest the crew are lying or that both a Pilot and Copilot are seeing the same "floaters" * , if they say they hit something I believe them . There are penalties for filing false aviation incident reports , what Pilot or other flight crew are gonna risk their jobs filing a hoax report ? So they say they hit something , I believe that they believe they did , and they don't know what , I believe that too . Now the original assumption was of course a drone (just like how every case of the flu now is "possible Zika") when now the speculation has drifted to possibly being a plastic bag . If it was that small and yet still made a sound as it touched the front of the aircraft I honestly wonder if it could have been a Helium balloon with some kind of plastic emblem that might make a "tink" sound on contact ? You know , like one of those really big (like 3ish feet across) Helium Balloons with "HAPPY BIRTHDAY !" and a big ol plastic bow with the person's name on it at the closure where the string ties on to ? Hey , my speculation is just as good as the next guy's , especially since I've seen a LOT more Helium Balloons do the uncontrolled fly away thing than I've ever seen model aircraft do !

* Nice try on the "Two Pilots , One Floater" theory Sport , , , But , , No dice .....

Sport_Pilot

The pilot said he hit something, I did not see where the copilot confirmed this, or if he was even in the cockpit. Since we have had pilots kill themselves and all on board by intentionally crashing the plane, I don't see making up a lie that no one can dispute as unlikely. Heck if proved there was nothing the pilot could claim it was an eye floater and no problem with career. Heck it would likely be good for his resume.

wahoo

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I've floated a few myself !! hahahahaha

Flight Risk

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Is it possible that the airflow over a wing or fuselage could carry an object such as a drone past without actually hitting. I would think that unless an object is dead center it would be carried past. I´ḿ thinking of the pictures of laminar airflow like the wake from a boat. Maybe the mass and momentum of the two objects colliding is too much to be affected by airflow.

kevink47

All right folks.I've had enough.First of all all the quad fliers need to stay away from all aircraft in general.Do they not realize the havoc they create.Second of all if I ever see a quad in my neck of the woods IT WILL BE MET WITH A 12 GAGE.I am getting tired of hearing what these idiots are doing.They will ruin this hobby for all the self respecting pilots that do obey the regulations.

init4fun

Hey Sport , sorry I missed your question here earlier , the report I read on my little Comcast newsfeed that scrolls across the top of my homepage referred to the flight crew who reported the incident as "They" instead of "he" . As in "the flight crew thought "they" had struck a drone" , which led me to believe there was a Pilot & Copilot involved . I could be wrong , It's happened before . Very well likely could happen again , too

How exactly is breaking the law (shooting down an aircraft in flight) going to inspire more folks to follow the law ? What if the droners take your challenge as an arms race and decide to fit 12 gauge shotguns to their drones , then what ? Bazookas ? SAMs ? Nukes ? How far are we gonna take the lawbreaking ourselves to combat other lawbreakers ? Sorry , that may be how the FBI does business (Read the case on "Whitey Bulger" for one great example of the Cops becoming crooks to catch other crooks !) but our hobby can survive just fine without the black eye of becoming vigilante lawbreakers ourselves .....

Rob2160

I agree that people need to fly responsibly but are you really so afraid of a toy that you will shoot it out of the sky?. How is that any more responsible than what you condemn?

What do you think it will achieve anyway? Maybe criminal charges against you and a lawsuit for property damage? The drone owner gets a shiny new machine and you will be the one paying for it...

ask Judge Judy.

There are smarter ways to deal with a troublesome drone pilot.

Rob2160

Thanks Init and I am glad you raised the point about making false reports - it is a criminal offence to make a false aviation report and it is also an offence to encourage another person to do it.

I know pilots can make mistakes, they are only human but believing there is a deliberate conspiracy by all pilots to 'falsely report" drone sightings is ridiculous. (Yes some people actually beleive this)

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...ostcount=53758

init4fun

All the Pilots I've ever known were men of such integrity that I'd never believe they would knowingly participate in some sketchy scheme to demonize drones .

Now the media , on the other hand , they just LOVE having a boogie man that they can rattle the bones of to get that all important ratings tick when things are a little slow on the ISIS front . Thanks to the media , to Joe Q Public , Drone = privacy threat , and it will interesting to see how the likes of Amazon and FedEx will try to tamp down these media driven fears when regular drone delivery service begins . It's an interesting thing of note that when folks talk to me about drones , due to my affiliation with RC airplanes , and discover I don't fly drones , the number one fear they all bring up is of being spied on by one in their bedroom , and not a mention of being injured by a falling one ! Now who do ya suppose mighta planted that little ol thought in the public's collective fears ? Certainly not a bunch of Airline Pilots , that's for sure .

FLAPHappy

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Well it has happened. Drone strikes airliner on landing.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/485106979...#sp=show-clips

init4fun

Hi FLAPHappy ,


If you noticed , the date on the story in your link is April 18 , and this is the British jet incident that subsequently has been determined that it's impossible to determine what exactly the aircraft hit , there was even speculation of a plastic bag , but with no pieces of what was hit and evidently no damage to the aircraft (It was declared airworthy for it's next scheduled flight) there will be no finding one way or the other .

TimJ

The pilot reported as seeing a drone or balloon. The pilot was not 100% sure. The mainstream media ran the report knowing full well the facts for Hazy.

rcmiket

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/drone-heathrow/

Apparently now it seems it was a plastic bag. While I'm sure eventually it will happen this ain't it.

Mike

porcia83

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Yes, it appears there are many folks just waiting for that to happen. Meanwhile, another mid air impact, at least they were honest enough to say it was birds.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/american-a...opstories.html

Rob2160

This is a 19 year old kid... admits to knowing the rules and deliberately ignoring them...

Its one thing to fly like this... but posting a video admitting you are breaking the law...

I guess he will have plenty of time in prison to think about the foolishness of that if he ever hits an aircraft.

Not a Multi-copter by the way - this one is a fixed wing. (Not in the USA but still illegal)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUotX5-0q0U

mike1974

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Awesome video!! Loved it!! What law/s did he break?

Rob2160

You really don't know Mike?

corch

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http://woodtv.com/2016/04/29/drone-l...chigan-prison/

walmart toy drone. Not a model aircraft.

mike1974

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Umm......what actual law in the US makes what he did criminal?

Sport_Pilot

He didn't break any law. Only a guideline.

mike1974

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Correct. No law was broken. It gets old seeing people post about this kind of flight being illegal. It is not.

Maybe if the powers that be at the FAA would have been working WITH the fpv community and coming up with safe ways to coexist instead of dragging their feet for YEARS, only to try, at the 11th hour, to implement dictatorship like REGULATIONS that do not pertain to 99+% of rcers and do nothing to solve the perceived problem of fpv flight, things would be much safer already. Unfortunately we do not learn and just keep trying to ban things/make things illegal even though we already know it won't work.

About 10 years of fpv and no plane down. Seems pretty safe to me.

mike1974

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The other problem is our government is slower than a snail getting anything done and cannot keep up with rapidly emerging technologies.

Sport_Pilot

We need someone who will fire the knuckle dragging bureaucrats and get something done! Congress isn't doing much either, except violating the 9th and 10th amendments.