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Officials probe first possible drone-related aircraft crash in the US
US authorities have started investigating what could be the first drone-related aircraft crash in the US, according to Bloomberg. Pilots have been reporting more and more drone sightings these past few years based on data from the FAA, but most of those incidents have been harmless. That might not be the case this time around. The pilot and student flying the helicopter that crashed in South Carolina on Wednesday told investigators they saw a small drone appear in front of them while practicing… (www.engadget.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
I question your suggestion that there are any downforces that extend OUT from the prop. Underneath, yes, but not out. In fact, from what I remember of my Fluid Mechanics class in school, there should be updrafts outside the downdrafts under the rotors, as the air that displaced downward makes it way around and back up to replace the air that is being pulled down from above the rotors.
See my post about the drone operator who was found at fault for the collision with the Blackhawk and the news report showing the piece of drone that hit it and took out a decent size chunk of the rotorblade. As a former crew chief on helicopters, I would not want to have a collision with one and we know that the rotor wash will not knock it out of the sky.
Due to how rotors work, a drone can most certainly get under the blades. Now if the helo was flying backwards, there might not be a chance of it, but it is highly doubtful that there is a need to fly backwards outside of combat or in lift operations such as placing electrical pylons and then it would not be very far.
Due to how rotors work, a drone can most certainly get under the blades. Now if the helo was flying backwards, there might not be a chance of it, but it is highly doubtful that there is a need to fly backwards outside of combat or in lift operations such as placing electrical pylons and then it would not be very far.
That's what I thought from the beginning.
I like Dogs, Drones, Model Airplanes. However if they are playing in the street/sky I will run over them instead of losing control and drive into the ditch/fly into the trees. Always fly the Airplane. The guy hired the wrong instructor.
Dogs have been here forever. Drones will be here from now on.
Dogs have been here forever. Drones will be here from now on.
Problem here is if it was a drone was it in a legally allowed area. Practice areas are usually a controlled airspace the only students and their instructors are allowed into. This allows them to maneuver in relative safety on a see and be seen basis. Problem is a drone operator would not be looking at an aeronautical map and know that it is a control spaced and not to fly there
A flying fixed wing aircraft has small vortices close to front of the aircraft itself, very strong negative vortices closer to an engine or huge vortices behind it, such as the wake of an A380 taking off and yes a drone can will cause significant damage and possible loss of life if it hit the windscreen or got sucked into an engine..but the positive vortices of a flying helo extend around it from the rotor assembly out and down, not just close to it and if a drone was close enough that the pilot could identify the make of it, he would have to be facing it and it below the rotors. If there was a drone, and again I am not disputing either way, the rotor wash should have blown the thing away before the pilot could even see it.