Possible drone left on the White House lawn
- Thread starter BuzzBuzzZoomZoom
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It was a phantom flown by a govt employee for recreation at 3 am.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/us/wh ... pe=article
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/us/wh ... pe=article
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In my opinion, it makes no difference what object landed on the white house lawn or crashed into a tree on the white house grounds. Bottom line, it could of been a paper plain or a kite, balloon, RC plane, etc it would of made the news anyways since the media craves for a story. DJI is the Apple of Quadcopters and ahead of the game. Only problem is some of the folks buying these great products don't know jack about flying anything remotely operated. The box on the DJI package clearly states " for 18 and over." Maybe they should add for experienced/responsible adults only. I have no issue with the government regulating in the sense of people needing to take some basic classes on flight rules and regs, air safety. That will only help us from preventing non experienced/ non responsible people from putting this great flying machine in the sky.
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Maybe DJI should include autonomous safety zones in the next software update. Seems like they could input the GPS coordinates of all U.S. restricted areas and instruct the Phantom to enter into a safety mode to prevent the flight or land automatically if it enters a no fly zone.
Hey guys, is it possible the "government employee" is a member of this forum? If so, do you think s/he will post a video and account of the flight into the South Lawn tree to share with us? And do you think the Secret Service will return the crashed Phantom to the "government employee"? Instead of arming the Secret Service with shotguns to down small UAVs, do you think a viable alternative would be to cover the White House and surrounding grounds with nets, same as the grounds are surrounded by a fence to keep out non-flying objects? And what do you think are the chances that the Secret Service will be issued P2V+ v.3s for White House grounds surveillance?
At least the 3am part of the mystery is solved. The guy was drunk. And an intelligence agency employee.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/wh ... pe=article
The article says officials are calling this "nothing more than a drunken misadventure with a drone."
Remember, kids: Friends don't let friends fly drunk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/wh ... pe=article
The article says officials are calling this "nothing more than a drunken misadventure with a drone."
Remember, kids: Friends don't let friends fly drunk.
drifter said:
The problem I have with this approach is two fold:
1) It's one more system that can go wrong and prevent you from flying a perfectly good DJI Phantom or if its programmed to land immediately, it could be an even bigger safety hazard than it would have been otherwise.
2) I fly within 5 miles of airports all the time. The specific rule that everyone references stating that you cannot fly within 5 miles of an airport actually DOES NOT state that you cannot fly within 5 miles of an airport. It states you cannot fly within 5 miles of an airport without airport approval. Neither FAA AC91-57 nor FAA 14 CFR Part 91 state you cannot fly within 5 miles of an airport. I simply file my flight plans with the airport tower and get approval to fly. I have yet to get one denied.
So if DJI were to limit the Phantom based on location, it would do a great disservice to those of us who actually know the regulations and know how to follow the proper process to get exemptions. I've captured tons of great footage that would not have been possible otherwise.
Well, let the fear mongering begin!
http://apmobile.worldnow.com/story/2793 ... -rules-now
Waiting for the knee jerk reactions to start ASAP!
http://apmobile.worldnow.com/story/2793 ... -rules-now
Waiting for the knee jerk reactions to start ASAP!
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herein2014 said:
Unfortunately not everyone is as diligent as you are, for instance, the topic of this thread. We need Ideas to limit drone usage to non-restricted zones or suffer the consequences of the government stepping in and outlawing recreational drones altogether. That would be a bummer, but when it’s all said and done national security, airline safety, and privacy comes first, NOT recreational hobbies. :shock:
ianwood
Taco Wrangler
Are you a drunk intel worker? Do you live next to the White House? Is it the middle of the night? If so, why not fly a drone? Just be sure not to... oh... oopsies!
This should serve as a reminder that no amount of regulation will stop dumb.
This should serve as a reminder that no amount of regulation will stop dumb.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/drone-i ... story.html
Piece of trash DJI Phantom crashes on the white house lawn and Obama puts them out of business. Negative feedback loop. Karma is a ***** DJI.
Piece of trash DJI Phantom crashes on the white house lawn and Obama puts them out of business. Negative feedback loop. Karma is a ***** DJI.
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+1 Ianwood and I are on the same page. As I stated very early on before even knowing all of the facts....ianwood said:
"f some meat-head is going to fly a drone over the White House, no regulation will stop him. You just can’t fix “stupid” or regulate “stupid”."
The Washington Post article (see russianfront's post) has a diagram of a Phantom. The Prop Guard is labeled as a "stabilizer."
Meta4
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According to the "stabilizer" journalist ..
Larger models that can carry payloads of up to 30 pounds are available on the market and are expected to become more common.
Imagine the multicopter that can carry 30 pounds!!
It would be able to carry an impressive camera.
and ...
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday’s incident at the White House should spur safety rules for drone operators.
“With the discovery of an unauthorized drone on the White House lawn, the eagle has crash-landed in Washington; there is no stronger sign that clear FAA guidelines for drones are needed,” he said in a statement.
Yeah .. clear guidelines are guaranteed to keep idiots or bad guys from doing the wrong thing.
That's sure to work.
Larger models that can carry payloads of up to 30 pounds are available on the market and are expected to become more common.
Imagine the multicopter that can carry 30 pounds!!
It would be able to carry an impressive camera.
and ...
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday’s incident at the White House should spur safety rules for drone operators.
“With the discovery of an unauthorized drone on the White House lawn, the eagle has crash-landed in Washington; there is no stronger sign that clear FAA guidelines for drones are needed,” he said in a statement.
Yeah .. clear guidelines are guaranteed to keep idiots or bad guys from doing the wrong thing.
That's sure to work.
Meta4 said:
Schumer is a publicity whore who jumps in with comments like that all the time. When the BATFE was hassling rocketry hobbyists, we had a bill sponsored in Congress that would have freed us from most of the problems. Schumer killed it with a bunch of outright lies. So, we had to spend a hundred thousand of dollars in court to fight the ATF. We won and also were awarded most of our legal fees. So Schumer's grandstanding cost the government hundreds of thousands when you add up how much the government spent defending the case, conducting the court proceedings, and refunding our costs.
-- Roger
Latest update - the person responsible is now blaming DJI for the "flyaway" that resulted in a phantom crashing on the WHITE lawn:
mobile.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/us/man-lost-contact-with-drone-before-it-sped-to-white-house-friend-says.html?referrer=
mobile.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/us/man-lost-contact-with-drone-before-it-sped-to-white-house-friend-says.html?referrer=
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