UK Air ambulance in near miss with drone

[nomorehelosforme]

According to the report the drone came within 10ft of the helicopter. I call that too close for comfort!

An air ambulance narrowly avoided being hit by a drone, a chief pilot has said.

The remote-controlled craft came within 10ft (3m) of the helicopter, which was returning to its base at Nostell, Wakefield.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) said the drone was being flown at an illegal height of 1,300ft (396m).

It said a collision was only avoided thanks to "the vigilance of our front-seat paramedic" and "the rapid reaction of our pilot".

YAA Chief Pilot Steve Waudby said the near-miss, at about 18:50 BST on Wednesday, "put the lives of our crew in extreme danger".


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-49673373

[fulham fan]

CAA and Yorkshire Air Ambulance have issued a new safety advice video following this incident

You Tube

[[email protected]]

YAA Chief Pilot, Steve Waudby sounds a lot more Yorkshire than he did when he was in the RAF #gonenativeupnorth

[aa777888]

Interesting video. Another option for UAV operators might be to move the UAV closer to an obstacle (building, antenna, tree, etc.) than a rotor disc can get. That could be a faster path to safety than landing from 400 feet AGL. Indeed, in the case of news or public service (police) UAV observation operations, intentionally positioning a UAV in proximity to an obstacle like that would automatically deconflict UAV/helicopter operations.

[ShyTorque]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

YAA Chief Pilot, Steve Waudby sounds a lot more Yorkshire than he did when he was in the RAF #gonenativeupnorth

I thought Sean Lock had stood in for him...... 😉