Summary
A drone collision grounded one of two Super Scooper planes battling Los Angeles wildfires, leaving a critical resource unavailable.
The collision damaged the aircraft’s wing, forcing its grounding, and temporarily paused other firefighting flights, creating significant delays.
The FAA emphasized the dangers of flying drones near wildfires, noting it’s a federal crime with penalties up to $75,000 and prison time.
Over 36,000 acres have burned, with officials warning that delays in air support allow wildfires to spread rapidly, endangering lives and property.
I guess some people’s point is that if the automated restrictions that come with those aren’t used maliciously or commonly problematic, it shouldn’t really be a big deal for it to exist. In fact, that they do exist is probably a good thing because it prevents amateurs from making potentially hazardous mistakes, given there really aren’t any other controls on who can operate them.
From the sound of your initial post, it sounded like you were primarily building your own to evade these automated restrictions, but I’m going to assume you’re more of an enthusiast and just don’t add those features to what you build, and you build things for that intrinsic joy and customizability. If true, I think given your level of familiarity and expertise, that feels generally reasonable.
Yeah no way in hell I’d ever do something as stupid as fly in a TFR. Everything I do is in order, legally.