
Drones ground water-dropping helicopters at critical moment in Maria fire battle - lnguyen
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-01/maria-fire-drone-hinders-firefighting-efforts-as-blaze-doubles-in-size-overnight
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floatingatoll
If you come across drone photos of the fire described here, in social media or
anywhere, please report them to the Ventura County Fire Department at
vcfd@ventura.org Subject “I found someone’s drone photos of the wildfire” for
further investigation.

(They could be taken by licensed media personnel, so be polite about it.)

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jimmaswell
I wish comments like the dead one here weren't killed. Nobody wants to
consider alternative viewpoints too often around here.

I honestly feel like the officials here are just malingering to try to get
drones banned because they don't like them. No way one tiny drone flying
somewhere in the forest means no helicopters can do their job in the entire
vicinity. It's no different than a large bird being around.

~~~
tzs
> No way one tiny drone flying somewhere in the forest means no helicopters
> can do their job in the entire vicinity. It's no different than a large bird
> being around.

Aircraft dropping water on fires are:

1\. flying very low,

2\. over fires that will be causing a lot of turbulence,

3\. in aircraft that are heavy loaded, making them less nimble than normal,
and making maneuvering put more stress on the aircraft than normal,

4\. in conditions with poor visibility.

This makes it a very stressful, dangerous kind of flight, where if anything
goes wrong the chances of the pilot recovering in time are greatly reduced.
Encountering a drone could easily lead to a crash in these circumstances.

And yes, it is very different from a large bird, because large birds will be
avoiding the fire.

~~~
rasz
5\. useless in the grand scheme of things

"Air tanker drops in wildfires are often just for show"
[https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-
wildfires29-2008jul29-st...](https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-
wildfires29-2008jul29-story.html)

"To professional firefighters, though, it was a prime example of a “political
air show,” the high-profile use of expensive aircraft to appease elected
officials."

“CNN drops.”

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jiofih
Hasn’t the US/Canada law changed to require a pilot license and radio contact
for flying a drone?

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aaron695
Rather than the boring af repetitive talk about the fake Gatwick Drone. Or all
the fake sightings.

Or the one sub par test of a drone hitting a plane in a facility.

How about we talk about how we let the government take over so much of our
world.

We are moving to 3D, f the government. How do they own it all?

How can we not even use toys in 99% of our world.

It's a disgrace.

The data we are collecting from drones around the world is amazing. They lets
us crawl back some of what governments have taken away. Good on people filming
fires, they are possibly contributing more than these grounded helicopters.
Helicopters need to learn how to share the space.

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acdha
Do you really think that there’s a significant public value for someone to be
able to “use toys” in the same place where people are actively fighting a
raging fire near an inhabited area?

I think there’s a lot of value to things which can be done with drones but
that’s about the worst area to make this argument: it’s limited in both space
and time, and there’s a direct risk to human lives.

~~~
sneak
> _Do you really think that there’s a significant public value for someone to
> be able to “use toys” in the same place where people are actively fighting a
> raging fire near an inhabited area?_

The kind of reactionary legislation that articles like this generate support
for will not simply ban drones over fires. The collateral damage to our
present freedoms to collect data and imagery will be significant.

~~~
macintux
Then don’t fly drones where the authorities are desperately trying to put out
a fire, thus there would be no backlash.

~~~
sneak
I don’t, yet I will still have my freedoms restricted by the reactionary and
unnecessary legislation passed because of fearmongering articles like this.

Your words seem to imply that people who have their freedoms taken away in
bulk are somehow themselves to blame, when that is rarely the case.

