They caught and charged the drone pilot

[Paul Wescott]

He “wanted to see what was going on” sounds like 90% of the posts in my local Ring Network “Sirens / Cop Cars / ‘ ‘Gunshots’ Does anybody know what’s going on?”  Yeah I’ll tell you what’s going on: you’re an obsessive gossip with a side order of FOMO (fear of missing out).

Misdemeanor charge with max one year in prison.  Well at least now we know that the penalty is not steep enough to keep all the other “What’s going on” pilots from doing the same thing.

The FBI identified the drone pilot by reviewing the video found in the wreckage - DOH!

So we have the Media Trifecta:
Why he did it,
Max punishment, and the most important piece of information to make public
How to avoid capture; Wear a full-face mask or don’t turn on the camera until it’s up at altitude.

I love L.A. (NOT).  Criminy.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-19/feds-charge-hollywood-man-after-drone-crashes-into-lapd-helicopter

Paul W.

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[Steve Helmick]

Should charge with "Assault with a deadly weapon" and put him away for 3-5 years.  Steve

[jim gilmore]

I am confused. Paul, from reading your post. Are you unhappy that a drone pilot is in trouble for acting carelessly? It could have been far worse. The copter could lost a blade and people could have died.

[Paul Wescott]

I am confused. Paul, from reading your post. Are you unhappy that a drone pilot is in trouble for acting carelessly? It could have been far worse. The copter could lost a blade and people could have died.

You are not confused at all.
I have just reviewed your last several dozen posts.
You are the very definition of an Internet Troll and should be banned from StuntHanger.
Here is the definition of Internet Troll so you will not be confused:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

And here are some recent examples of your inflammatory and in some cases ILLEGAL statements:

“You Arlan must be a top level physiologist or PhD Physician I am guessing ? If not I would say you are incorrect on you assertion on all of it.”  <<< Are YOU a top level physiologist etc. Gilmore? >>>

“You cannot read can YOU ?”  <<< Did you seriously just publicly accuse someone of being illiterate Gilmore?  On a FORUM where literacy is kind of a given?  Plus there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with being unable to read and/or write, it doesn’t make someone a bad person. >>>

“Ken, I really think you are bit misinformed about the who and why of Trump's moves in Israel.”  <<< Is ANYONE informed on that topic, least of all YOU Gilmore? >>>

“Brett Buck, you do understand how vote in many states are done ?”  <<< You did NOT just accuse Brett Buck of not knowing how voting works!  Plus your spelling and/or grammar are atrocious Gilmore. >>>

Never reply to another one of my posts ever again Mr. Troll.

For sure don’t bother replying to this one because I won’t read your reply.

Now I’m going to commence reporting your bad behavior to the admins because you really should not be allowed to use this forum in any way as evidenced by the summary of your behavior above.

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[Mike Griffin]

Hi Paul,

First I agree with you wholeheartedly on your assement of Jim but that is not why I am posting this.  I wanted to reply about the idiot out in California that could have ended in a real disaster..

I am the co-owner of a commercial real estate company and we own a fleet of high tech state of the art very expensive machines.  We shoot commercial and residential real estate, insurance claims, search and rescue for FEMA , construction companies and agriculture to to mention a few.  sUAS photography has become very much in demand for several reasons.  Generally it is much cheaper than using a full scale aircraft as I will mention later in the post but these machines are very valuable used in the proper venue and all FAA rules are adhered to.

We hold Part 107 FAA licenses (the cost of the test is $150.00) and as commercial pilots, we are held to a much stricter standard than recreational pilots are.  For example, we will not and cannot fly in controlled airspace as dictated by LANCE.  My Yuneec Typhoon Plus will not even launch if I am in controlled airspace and most of the DJI drones will not either.  We are restricted to line of sight, 400ft maximum altitude and can only fly for 1/2 hour after sundown.  On the other hand, recreational pilots (a lot of them do not even register their machines), can fly FPV, and at night.

We recently just turned down a job for an agent in Pensecola, FL because the property was in spitting distance of the Naval Air Station.  Believe it or not he found someone to launch and film the property for him but I guarantee you it was not a licensed drone pilot and whoever it was was risking severe legal consequences if he got caught.

We can have our licensees revoked by violating any of these rules and  be put out of business.  Meanwhile Aholes like this are a dime a dozen.  Just go to You Tube sometime and see some of the stuff these morons do that endanger civilians and other aircraft.  I watched one where some guy flew OVER a massive fireworks display and filmed it.  I dont even want to think what would have happened if something had gone wrong.

My business partner and I both fly search and rescue missions for the Civil Air Patrol.  He is a qualified Mission Pilot (which is very hard to achieve) for the Civil Air Patrol and I fly with him as an Airborne Photographer.  We generally fly these missions in a Cessna 172 or 182.  We are also the only Air Force qualified sUAS team in the Louisiana Wing so we are very aware of the abuse that is practiced by some of these morons. 

These machines have very advanced technology built in to them and depending upon the software you are running, can do some amazing things. 

If you get bored sometime, go to You Tube and look at some of the incredibly reckless and dangerous things some of these people do.  I used to comment and call them out on it but I just got shouted down by their band of dumbass followers.

Oh, and by the way, If someone shoots down a drone, I dont care who they are or who you are, it is a Federal Offense.  Unmanned or not they are considered by the FAA as aircraft.

Thanks for you post Paul.  Irresponsible people have created some bad perceptions about these machines but there a many more of us who abide by the rules.

Mike

These people, like the one in the article you psos