I was listening to the scanner in the Pacific Palisades fire area, and the police are being sent to find drone pilots flying in the temporary no-fly zone. This is serious as there are active firefighting aircraft in the area.
Good. They deserve it.
Flying in an active fire zone while planes are working? These people are reckless. I doubt the police have the time to actually go after them right now, but I hope they get caught later and face the consequences.
@Luchivya
Someone already hit a plane. The aircraft is grounded now. Great job, everyone…
@Luchivya
I wonder if the new Remote ID system is helping police track some of these drone pilots.
Harper said:
@Luchivya
I wonder if the new Remote ID system is helping police track some of these drone pilots.
Probably, unless it’s a homemade drone without Remote ID. Here in Maryland, if a helicopter’s coming in, I can’t even fly above 20 feet. Normally, I stick to the 400-foot rule for my M4Pro.
Harper said:
@Luchivya
I wonder if the new Remote ID system is helping police track some of these drone pilots.
It depends on whether they have the right equipment to pick up the signals. If they do, it’ll lead them straight to the controller.
Harper said:
@Luchivya
I wonder if the new Remote ID system is helping police track some of these drone pilots.
Does a DJI drone even transmit Remote ID if it’s not registered? I thought it didn’t.
@Val
It does transmit, registered or not. The drone doesn’t know if it’s been registered.
Aki said:
@Val
It does transmit, registered or not. The drone doesn’t know if it’s been registered.
That’s odd. When I got a replacement Mavic 3 Pro, it didn’t show up on scanner apps until I registered it. After that, it appeared every time.
@Val
I’ve read that the Mini 4 Pro behaves differently depending on the battery used. With a heavy battery, it broadcasts Remote ID even if unregistered. Not 100% sure, though.
Brady said:
@Val
I’ve read that the Mini 4 Pro behaves differently depending on the battery used. With a heavy battery, it broadcasts Remote ID even if unregistered. Not 100% sure, though.
If unregistered drones don’t broadcast, then Remote ID only bothers law-abiding people and does nothing to stop the real troublemakers.
@Val
Yeah, I think it should just broadcast regardless. When I was researching, I read that heavy batteries force Remote ID to broadcast. Maybe the DJI app enforces registration for those batteries? Not sure.
@Brady
It definitely doesn’t force registration on the Mini 3 Pro with a heavy battery.
This is great! Catch them, name them, fine them. Make them regret breaking the rules. They’re making it harder for responsible pilots to enjoy this hobby.
Corey said:
This is great! Catch them, name them, fine them. Make them regret breaking the rules. They’re making it harder for responsible pilots to enjoy this hobby.
I get your point, but the whole idea of drones is to capture footage. If the rules stop us from doing that, then what’s the point of owning one?
@Hart
The big problem here is that drones in the fire zone can ground firefighting aircraft. This already happened earlier today when a plane was grounded after a drone struck it.
People flying drones near fire operations should face harsh penalties. Their actions risk lives and property by grounding emergency aircraft.
Torin said:
This is exactly why this keeps happening…
People like Kit Karzen are even deleting posts of their drone footage over the devastation. Go after all of them.
Good. Throw the book at them. Heck, throw the whole library.