Hawk Attack While Flying My P4P

[Hendricks]

Hi,

While flying this weekend a good distance away from any trees, I was setting up for a shot over a neighbourhood when I noticed a mid- sized bird approaching my Phantom....
It got close and veered off and I thought that was the end of it and I'd be able to get my photography done.

A few moments later, the bird(slightly smaller than a sea gull) approached again and went straight for my aircraft.
I went into full descent from 350 feet up and, as I was dropping, the bird flew by a lot closer than the previous times.

It was a lot closer to me now and I could tell it was a small hawk.......it was a light brown with rust color under its wings.

Anyway, I was able to duck and weave for another bit and eventually the bird lost interest and flew off toward a stand of tall trees.

My only guess is that it must have been nesting in those trees, although at this time of year(mid-November), I wouldn't think a hawk would have young in its nest.

I never fly where I'm interfering with wildlife, but this does show that certain birds will go after a Phantom if they are defending a nest or otherwise feel threatened.

A bird strike at 300 feet up isn't going to work out well for your aircraft.

It pays to keep an eye out for birds when you are up there with your Phantoms or other aircraft.

 

[Paul2660]

There is another post in here somewhere about near misses from birds and use of reflective tape. The reflective tape helped keep the birds from zooming in close.

Going to try this for my P4, as I fly around a lot of bluffs and pigeons are a real problem. Not attacking, but flying out from their roosts.

Paul C

 

[3rdof5]

Luckily this hasnt happened to me, yet!!! I dont know how all of positioning sensors on the P4 function but on my P3P I keep the ground positioning system turned off so as not to annoy the birds with it's ultrasonic sound. Dunno if that actually helps but I've read from others that it does.

 

[koipondscum]

Ascend, never descend when being targeted by a raptor

 

[Fly Dawg]

If you are lucky enough to see the Hawk, or any other possible attacker including as small as a Blue Jay ( And they will as well ), your best response if full throttle up. They can come in at speed from any angle other than from below. You can out climb them vertically.

 

[WV. Rootman]

Absolutely throttle up.
I'm a little twisted though. No animal wants to be injured. Not even a grizzly bear. It could mean death to the animal. If they feel threatened they leave.
I had a group of sea gulls come after my P3. I throttled up when they came after my P3 a couple of times. I saw the culprit flying away and I took off after him. What a dog fight. They all left. I was flying in a bay area and I think I got close to their nesting area.

 

[DigitalSkyPilot]

I had a bald eagle cruise by my P3S and turned it's head but kept flying straight. It never took it's eyes off the drone. I was about 150 ft. below and ascending was not an option. I went down at an angle away from the bird and it continued on. With a diving speed of 99 mph. there's really no where to run. I try to avoid any contact with them but it happens.

 

[Cobraray]

Hi,

While flying this weekend a good distance away from any trees, I was setting up for a shot over a neighbourhood when I noticed a mid- sized bird approaching my Phantom....
It got close and veered off and I thought that was the end of it and I'd be able to get my photography done.

A few moments later, the bird(slightly smaller than a sea gull) approached again and went straight for my aircraft.
I went into full descent from 350 feet up and, as I was dropping, the bird flew by a lot closer than the previous times.

It was a lot closer to me now and I could tell it was a small hawk.......it was a light brown with rust color under its wings.

Anyway, I was able to duck and weave for another bit and eventually the bird lost interest and flew off toward a stand of tall trees.

My only guess is that it must have been nesting in those trees, although at this time of year(mid-November), I wouldn't think a hawk would have young in its nest.

I never fly where I'm interfering with wildlife, but this does show that certain birds will go after a Phantom if they are defending a nest or otherwise feel threatened.

A bird strike at 300 feet up isn't going to work out well for your aircraft.

It pays to keep an eye out for birds when you are up there with your Phantoms or other aircraft.

It wouldn't go well for a Hahk either. Birds have the right of way.

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

Hi,

While flying this weekend a good distance away from any trees, I was setting up for a shot over a neighbourhood when I noticed a mid- sized bird approaching my Phantom....
It got close and veered off and I thought that was the end of it and I'd be able to get my photography done.

A few moments later, the bird(slightly smaller than a sea gull) approached again and went straight for my aircraft.
I went into full descent from 350 feet up and, as I was dropping, the bird flew by a lot closer than the previous times.

It was a lot closer to me now and I could tell it was a small hawk.......it was a light brown with rust color under its wings.

Anyway, I was able to duck and weave for another bit and eventually the bird lost interest and flew off toward a stand of tall trees.

My only guess is that it must have been nesting in those trees, although at this time of year(mid-November), I wouldn't think a hawk would have young in its nest.

I never fly where I'm interfering with wildlife, but this does show that certain birds will go after a Phantom if they are defending a nest or otherwise feel threatened.

A bird strike at 300 feet up isn't going to work out well for your aircraft.

It pays to keep an eye out for birds when you are up there with your Phantoms or other aircraft.

We have found that a Pure White Drone is the Enemy as it so closely relates to that of the Seagull .

Being that we fly frequently off the lake with many birds , once you put some Color on your drone , as shown below you will find a much clearer flight path when flying with the birds are much less likely to get attacked at all.

Many colors will work, but the Red and Blue are the best > All black is ok but not as good as that splash of color. That really separates the drone from looking like any kind of Bird.

We have some vids on phantomrain.org

 

[jackcutrone]

Absolutely throttle up.
I'm a little twisted though. No animal wants to be injured. Not even a grizzly bear. It could mean death to the animal. If they feel threatened they leave.
I had a group of sea gulls come after my P3. I throttled up when they came after my P3 a couple of times. I saw the culprit flying away and I took off after him. What a dog fight. They all left. I was flying in a bay area and I think I got close to their nesting area.

So it’s fun to chase after birds with your drone when you fly in their nesting area?

 

[Chris TDT]

Yep here is another vote for full throttle up and no horizontal movement. Birds don’t fly straight up, so that’s your best avoidance plan.

Down or horizontal will be bad news.

 

[GaryE2018]

I live in a National forest and not far from wilderness area, I am always getting eyed or chased by hawks and bats,, bats will really get tooo close try to out maneuver a bat, its it's tough.
I really do try to stay away from any. But the funniest is Turkey's

 

[teelions]

Birds of prey attach from a downward direction. They circle above their prey and then fold their wings close to their body and drop straight down like a bullet. If you ever want to really get away from a bird that will literally kill your drone, the tactic is to GO UP when they attack. They cannot adjust their flight from down to up immediately. Then after you're up a bit, put it into Sport mode and scram home directly towards you. Then there you will be waving your arms and screaming "Hey! HEY!" And it will back off.

 

[thecordman]

We have found that a Pure White Drone is the Enemy as it so closely relates to that of the Seagull .

Being that we fly frequently off the lake with many birds , once you put some Color on your drone , as shown below you will find a much clearer flight path when flying with the birds are much less likely to get attacked at all.

Many colors will work, but the Red and Blue are the best > All black is ok but not as good as that splash of color. That really separates the drone from looking like any kind of Bird.

We have some vids on phantomrain.org

View attachment 105632

View attachment 105631

Hi,

How much are these? If these work then that is a solution!

 

[GeneM]

Raptors are very curious and amazing flyers. There was a recent nature show with film of Peregrine falcons in California protecting their nests from flying pelicans. They dove down on the pelicans and pulled their heads back to upset their flight aerodynamics and making the pelicans fall out of the sky into the water. Crazy smart.

Visited a raptor aviary in the Middle East while on a project. It was an awesome experience. If you ever get the chance to see falconry in person- take it.

Couple of years ago I took a couple of screen shots of this girl taking a look at what I was doing.

Safe flying.

 

[goinup]

Previously posted:
I live in a heavily treed area, w/a passel of hawks. They would menace my drones on almost all flights, and I would have to take evasive action. Then I decided to try the gardener's reflective cd/dvd trick by putting reflective adhesive strips on my drones (see photo). Now I see the hawks get close, then peel off ;-)
These reflective strips provide a secondary purpose of making your drone more visible in the event of a unplanned landing.......somewhere.

 

[WV. Rootman]

So it’s fun to chase after birds with your drone when you fly in their nesting area?

No, Jack. Only after the fact, I tried to figure out the scenario. I couldn’t even come close to those seagulls. There was a bunch of those seagulls after me. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.

 

[KR W]

Hi,

While flying this weekend a good distance away from any trees, I was setting up for a shot over a neighbourhood when I noticed a mid- sized bird approaching my Phantom....
It got close and veered off and I thought that was the end of it and I'd be able to get my photography done.

A few moments later, the bird(slightly smaller than a sea gull) approached again and went straight for my aircraft.
I went into full descent from 350 feet up and, as I was dropping, the bird flew by a lot closer than the previous times.

It was a lot closer to me now and I could tell it was a small hawk.......it was a light brown with rust color under its wings.

Anyway, I was able to duck and weave for another bit and eventually the bird lost interest and flew off toward a stand of tall trees.

My only guess is that it must have been nesting in those trees, although at this time of year(mid-November), I wouldn't think a hawk would have young in its nest.

I never fly where I'm interfering with wildlife, but this does show that certain birds will go after a Phantom if they are defending a nest or otherwise feel threatened.

A bird strike at 300 feet up isn't going to work out well for your aircraft.

It pays to keep an eye out for birds when you are up there with your Phantoms or other aircraft.

I've been attacked several times. Mostly by crows and ravens. Some kind of territorial attack or just their joy of harassing other birds, mechanical or not.

Never been hit, but I can easily imagine the impact.

R

Roger

 

[Russ43Phantom]

Ascend, never descend when being targeted by a raptor

Agree ... all birds attack from above. BUT ... that is hard to do when your are flying near the 400' ceiling. Decisions ... decisions ... decisions.

 

[Ansia]

Agree ... all birds attack from above. BUT ... that is hard to do when your are flying near the 400' ceiling. Decisions ... decisions ... decisions.

According to the FAA, you are allowed to go above 400’ to take evasive actions. Just make sure to return to 400’ or below once you evaded.