Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Feds: Please stop flying drones over active wildfires

The people charged with protecting millions of acres of public land from wildfires have a request to drone pilots: Stop getting in our way. On Monday the U.S. Forest Service along with other land management agencies sent a notice asking the general public to kindly avoid flying over active fires. According to the notice on June 25 drones interrupted air tanker operations over the Sterling fire in San Bernardino National Forest. Here's more from the Forest Service:
"Aerial firefighting aircraft, such as airtankers and helicopters, fly at very low altitudes, typically just a couple of hundred feet above the ground, the same as UAS flown by members of the public do, creating the potential for a mid-air collision that could seriously injure or kill aerial and/or ground firefighters. In addition, a UAS flown by a member of the public that loses its communication link could fall from the sky, causing serious injuries or deaths of firefighters on the ground."...more

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