D. Freeman
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Inquiring minds want to know.. Who effed up big?
Drones are supposed to stay below 400 feet, which is actually quite high for a drone. Usually they are much lower than that. Helicopters are supposed to stay above 500 feet, which is a limit that is quite obviously ignored.
Heck I don't think I have ever seen a "chase" chopper during a race that wasn't below 500 feet. That goes for the Mint 400 at times as well.
We had a chopper so low it was purposely kicking up dust and blocking our race car one time. It also flew into the power lines over Mike's road a little while later, if that says anything about the quality of the pilot.
as far as US races, the permit typically lays out the flight requirements and we meet with every pilot before the race. BITD races, unless otherwise dictated by permit is 500 above any designated spectator or Pit areas or areas where volunteers have their camps set up. and not limited on AGL other than that. They are warned however if they create dust for anyone as we have comms with all of them now as well. Some races the AGL limits are dictated by other factors. Laughlin for instance requires below 1000 for all areas on the NV side as a result of approach paths for the airport. On occasion when military training is going on, they have made it a 500 foot ceiling. Two years ago we had a permit in which the BLM mandated above 500 and the military demanded below 500. that was a fun meeting to try and work through.
If I remember correctly, the mexico one that crashed also ended up in a shoot out between feds and cartel when they went to steal the bodies from the morgue. wasnt it following a class 1 car that wasnt officially entered in the race?
Drones are supposed to stay below 400 feet, which is actually quite high for a drone. Usually they are much lower than that. Helicopters are supposed to stay above 500 feet, which is a limit that is quite obviously ignored.
Is that an international law. It is Mexico....
Not necessarily, I watched the drone footage live and that drone was up there a couple of times, that 500ft is anywhere "there are people or pit areas" the rest for heli's is where ever the pilot feels safe, fixed wing must stay above that 500 unless landing.Regardless, if they collided 100’ off the ground it certainly wouldn’t be the drones fault. Unless of course it was near the airport or some restricted space.
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You're right, not necessarily. Its not good to speculate on these kind of things. But lets get the rule right, at least as it applies in the US. Helos are supposed to stay 500' above cities and towns. In rural areas they can go down lower but must remain at least 500' away from any person, vehicle or structure. I have ridden in chase copters and let me tell you they spend a large amount of time well below that 500' limit. Mexico may have a different law but I doubt it and in any case I'm pretty sure the SCORE book says helos must stay at 500' above and 500' laterally from the course.Not necessarily, I watched the drone footage live and that drone was up there a couple of times, that 500ft is anywhere "there are people or pit areas" the rest for heli's is where ever the pilot feels safe, fixed wing must stay above that 500 unless landing.
I'll just say one more thing because as I said before, speculation on incidents like this is almost always incomplete at best if not down right wrong. AGL altitudes when used for deconfliction are very hard to use. A drone certainly doesn't have an AGL readout, it only tells you how high you are compared to where you launched from. For instance if you take off from a hill that is 300 feet high and fly out over the ocean, your readout might say 300 feet but you'd actually be 600 feet over the water. Bottom line is this kind of flying has some rules for deconfliction but at the end of the day it is see and avoid, which means the drone operator needs to keep that thing within visual range. I believe that requirement is an FAA regulation.I'm sure there's footage.
I was meaning that some of the footage I saw, it was high, not that it for sure was at 500, I would have thought that the rotor wash would have kept it from getting under there, guess not.