Airports are not the only place where drones can be an issue. Having said this, I am not 100% sure in this case the drone operator would have been at fault.
Wife and I were recently camped on the edge of the Menindee Lakes. Young fella camped next to us (about 100 metres away) wanders over, introduces himself and lets us know he has a drone and will be filming the lake, but will not fly over our camp, but might fly passed, and he will not film us. Quite a decent thing to do I thought. Got talking to him.... he shows me the drone...bl00dy small thing, weighs less than 2kg but has a heap of computing power by the sound of it. He tells me that he has some pre-set parameters for the drone flight... not above 300 feet and no further than 1km from the controller (I told him he must have good eye sight to see 1km) and he must see the drone at all times. But the pre-sets could be set to 6km in any direction...up or out. He had done some form if a 1/2 day training course in Canberra as part of the deal when he brought it.
Next morning sitting there watching him fly it over the Lake an next thing out of nowhere at scary feet above ground and just over the tree line zips a PA28 .... low enough that I could clearly see the drone ABOVE the A/C and see the PA28 pilot!!! The PA28 does a shallow bank and flies on along the foreshore blissfully unaware of how close he had been to a strike. I watched him follow the Lake for a bit. Not aware of any landing strips private or otherwise... mind you it is flat enough that anywhere could be considered a landing strip.... not saying there arent... but didnt see any attitude changes, I could see the flaps were up he was that low nor could I hear any power setting changes to suggest he was landing.... about 15 minutes later the PA28 flew the reverse course over our camp again at scary feet above ground back over trees and gone. He may well have landed near by..if he did his final was l o n g and low over a lot of water birds on one side.
The drone operator came over with drone in hand and footage of the PA28 under the drone. Best estimate is about 40 to 50 feet separation.
You would think out there, middle of nowhere you would be safe. Clearly not. Thinking about it has made me think about any areas I might fly that are scenic... look out for drones. Responsiblity rests primarily with the drone operators to maintain a visual of their equipment and follow the requirements of their flight envelope.... and the rest of us to try to see and avoid. With both parties also maintaining appropriate legal flight requirements.
There may have been a valid reason for such a low flight of the PA28, I dont know, my point is.... Drones are becoming something we must factor into our flying as far as situational awareness goes. They are gunna be hard to see and are gunna hurt when they hit.
All we can hope us that when there is a strike that no one is injured.
Last edited by Walking Ballast; 21st Jan 2018 at 06:41.