What an awful tragedy.

quote:

Originally posted by markj:
Tragic. But, WTF? Why use a manned aircraft for photography in this day and age?

Drone would have been exponentially less expensive, even if you had to purchase the drone.

A drone would have been exponentially safer too. Nobody had to lose their life over a couple of arial photographs.

Idiots with too much money and not enough brains, just killed 4 people.

I thought about drones when there were so many helicopters in the area trying to get footage of the house on fire. It's a wonder they didn't run in to each other.

Mr Jodi has a drone, If you are anywhere near an airport, you can’t use them. We can’t here it our current house, he has to go way out in the country.

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
Mr Jodi has a drone, If you are anywhere near an airport, you can’t use them. We can’t here it our current house, he has to go way out in the country.

Given the recent spate of major airport closures over drone activity, the "prohibition" of drone use near airports has been interpreted by drone users like the Pirates Code ... more like a guideline than a rule.

I'm thinking the government needs to sit some people's rear ends in the slammer for, oh, three months to a year. Maybe that will concentrate minds.

Mr Jodi’s drone *will not fly* if he’s in one of the restricted areas. (There are obviously ways to get around that.)

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
Mr Jodi’s drone *will not fly* if he’s in one of the restricted areas. (There are obviously ways to get around that.)

Depends on your credentials and clearance but yeah, the government made sure that manufacturers put no-fly zones in the firmware.

Of course you don't have to use that firmware. lol But if you get caught, you're in a world of hurt.

300 feet should be more than high enough to get just about any Arial photo you want of a house or school. That is the limit placed on unmanned, recreational aircraft.

This was a commercial venture. It could have easily been taken care of with the proper permits and a qualified and certified, drone pilot.

There is no excuse for this.

The story I posted about the helicopter crash in my town was from 1998 during the PDE (Pre Drone Era).

Unless you're referring to the news footage that Steve posted about yesterday's crash.

I was not referring to incidents prior to the advent of drones with hi resolution photos and video capability.

Story about the pilot gets stranger and stranger.

https://ktla.com/2019/02/08/pi...killed-him-4-others/

quote:

The Times said the FAA confirmed that Isaacson was Pastini. The agency said he submitted two name changes to the FAA: first in 1991 from Jordan Albert Isaacson to Jordan Ike Aaron, then in 2008 to Antonio Peter Pastini.

Pastini told friends, family and even newspapers that he was a retired Chicago police officer.

But Chicago police have said he never worked for them and a Chicago police badge he was carrying when he crashed had been reported lost in 1978.

Those details are indeed weird!

The pilot lived very close to where Doug lives now.

Coincidence?

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
The pilot lived very close to where Doug lives now.

Coincidence?

Yeah, this guy was all over the news here for several days in a row. As in the quotes SK noted, the guy was apparently an interesting character. I also heard he was flying to his daughters house for an event that weekend, and had the wrong date. He was flying home with a plan to return the following weekend on the correct date.

As you might expect from a guy who went by the names Pastini and Isaacson, he owned a Chinese restaurant in town.

Pilots are weird.