Drone shark spotting
 

I saw this article this morning in the SMH:

Drone trial extended for holidays after shark clears Newcastle beach

Interested to see how this would work. Does anyone know who these private contractors are?

I fly regularly up that area and I am also a surfer who lives in Sydney. I have observed peanuts flying drones way too high in the Victor 1 lane at the risk of collision with VFR traffic, at least six times this year.

I'm wondering if there has been much thought given to the fact that VFR aircraft will be flying at 500ft from Nobbys northbound?

don't think it would work- it appears to be more of an 'impression of safety' i recall something like 12% of sharks are spotted from helicopters patrols..

also- another reason to check notams before flying
assuming there is a notam out about it...

not much you can do about peanuts- apart from report them/ take issue with them/ advise them to not fly so high..

as usual it will be the pilot that has to make concessions as to not flying lower than X just in case... (instead of requiring manufacturers to put altitude limits on non-commercial drones)

UAVs are being trialled at Kiama for a similar task. The operator makes calls on the Wollongong CTAF and stays below 400 feet. So far we have had no issues with the UAV or its operator.

If it's big enough and has a good camera set-up, then why not... hell of a lot cheaper than a helicopter and better on the environment.



On a related note - this just hit YouTube. Expect to see more about it in the news.


Don't try this at home... that is, only if you live in Australia.

https://youtu.be/At3xcj-pTjg

7700: I love it!

Just just imagine all the Aussie nanny-staters having a heart attack. Actually that would be good.

Cool vid Squawk7700! For the record, I like UAVs (though I've never operated one) and also know some very responsible commercial operators. Was just curious if anyone knew any rumours about the shark spotting activity.

He certainly gets some decent altitude at times, he must have really trusted it.

I wonder if Samsung will be hitting the drone market with these units.

Equally impressive was some of the drone footage from the smaller drones following the big one and filming it.