R/C Multicopter ("drone") crash-landed on White House grounds

For those who have not heard yet, an R/C Multicopter ("drone") landed on the White House grounds early Monday morning.



I have flown a DJI Phantom like that myself. It is one of the best and easiest to fly multicopters on the market. indeed I was asked to take over and fly one with zero practice. I fly R/C planes, but I cannot fly an R/C copter worth a darn, as many computer R/C simulator crashes can attest. The automated stability, including the ability to hover by itself if you let go of the sticks, is incredible.

The person who flew this did turn himself in after seeing news reports. It was not an "attack", the flier says it was an accident. But it's hard to believe he "accidentally" was flying anywhere near the White House, which is big-time illegal.

He ought to be the one to take 100% of the consequences, but it's far too likely there will be over reactions.

Before people go off half-cocked with the "that's what's wrong with R/C drones" hysteria, just think of what would happen if a G powered ROCKET had been launched near the White house and landed on the lawn?

That would be as representative of our hobby, and the people who fly, as the person who flew this.

They do not even need new laws. ALL of Washington DC (15 mile radius of the WH) is a No Fly Zone, for anything, and everything, even 10 feet above the ground in one's own back yard. NOTHING.

BTW - those who cannot write without making it political in any way, including the typical "anti-gubmint" and "anti-media" rants, and calling people names, DO NOT POST.

- George Gassaway

I am wondering if it "crashed" due to some type of RC jamming tech the WH is using. And if the Secret Service does not have this technology deployed at the WH I would be very surprised. NSA if you are reading my comments please understand that someone hacked my account and made these comments and I have no knowledge of them.

If it was a "G" powered rocket, our hobby might be in serious peril.

I heard on the radio this evening that the flyer was a Government employee.
That didn't surprise me as much as the fact he was flying it at 3AM.....LOL

At least they did not shoot it down with a SAM💥

I suspect this is going to be bad news for the RC community as a whole. Very bad...

I am wondering if it "crashed" due to some type of RC jamming tech the WH is using.

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I dont know if it could have been this because the DJI products have a return to home fail safe whenever the connection is lost or switch is pressed.

How about this scenario?

The RC world will take an enormous hit on this, strict regulations and restrictions will be applied to all things RC, sales will plummet accordingly, and hobby shop owners will be left wondering what to do. All that space in their stores that used to be filled with RC bits going to waste, costing them money! Whatever shall they do? "But wait", some enterprising shop owner will cry, "what if we filled those shelves with more rocketry items? - more motors, HPR kits and supplies, launch support, etc. We could even start really promoting and servicing the rocketry hobby. Salvation!" ......and there was much rejoicing.






ok, probably not.


s6

stealth6 said:

How about this scenario?

The RC world will take an enormous hit on this, strict regulations and restrictions will be applied to all things RC, sales will plummet accordingly, and hobby shop owners will be left wondering what to do. All that space in their stores that used to be filled with RC bits going to waste, costing them money! Whatever shall they do? "But wait", some enterprising shop owner will cry, "what if we filled those shelves with more rocketry items? - more motors, HPR kits and supplies, launch support, etc. We could even start really promoting and servicing the rocketry hobby. Salvation!" ......and there was much rejoicing.

ok, probably not.

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I know you are not really being serious.

Sadly, a LOT of the ones that do a lot of R/C aircraft would go out of business. If they could make a lot of $ selling rockets, they already would.

Yes, George, you did read me right.
'twas a bit tongue-in-cheek.

s6

That fact that one can buy that quadcopter from the likes of B&H Photo Video in New York, so one doesn't even need to know the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) and their Safety Code exists, that the rules about flying near the White House exist, or get any other connection with those of us who really enjoy R/C flying to get one of these things is part of what makes this a mess. And since the FAA has been overreacting already (at least from the AMA perspective)....well, this can't help, that's for sure.

s6 - more likely good for R/C ground and water vehicles than anything that can fly, unfortunately (and yes, I know you were being humorous).

stealth6 said:

How about this scenario?

The RC world will take an enormous hit on this, strict regulations and restrictions will be applied to all things RC, sales will plummet accordingly, and hobby shop owners will be left wondering what to do. All that space in their stores that used to be filled with RC bits going to waste, costing them money! Whatever shall they do? "But wait", some enterprising shop owner will cry, "what if we filled those shelves with more rocketry items? - more motors, HPR kits and supplies, launch support, etc. We could even start really promoting and servicing the rocketry hobby. Salvation!" ......and there was much rejoicing.






ok, probably not.


s6

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They're trying to take away our RC stuff.
False Flag operation. LOL

We can't post political/anti-gubmint/anti-media rants - agreed.

But can we talk about what a complete idiot whoever was flying this is?

s6

It's a false flag operation to sway public opinion to enforce tight controls on these "drones".

grouch said:

It's a false flag operation to sway public opinion to enforce tight controls on these "drones".

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Keep it humorous.
It was a joke......'twas a bit tongue-in-cheek.

I deeply question the intelligence of the individual that flew the quad copter that close to the White House. I'd like to know why he only took responsibility after it became a national news story. Why not notify a LEO immediately?

stealth6 said:

We can't post political/anti-gubmint/anti-media rants - agreed.

But can we talk about what a complete idiot whoever was flying this is?

s6

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A "civil servant". 'Nuff said.

Construct_VA said:

I deeply question the intelligence of the individual that flew the quad copter that close to the White House. I'd like to know why he only took responsibility after it became a national news story. Why not notify a LEO immediately?

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In this day and age...yes. Absolutely.

MaxQ said:

Keep it humorous.
It was a joke......'twas a bit tongue-in-cheek.

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Too funny, I completely missed your post. I was making the same joke you were and I didn't even know it.

Once again....

01000100011011110110100000100001

Yup. Operator is an idiot. Even not accounting for DC total no-fly zone is federal land flight regs. The land management agency I work for has banned all recreational unmanned flight, even traditional rc due to the advent of the quadcopter. Yes, they're fun and super easy to fly, so even a beginner can fly great in no time. They can also independently fly pre-programmed routes, taking images of pre-programmed locations, and this can be done by anyone with a pulse and the strength to operate a smart phone. Pretty much makes them a terrorist's dream tool, for planning or executing plans.

The downside for the other 99.99999% is that it's too difficult to differentiate what could be an instrument of terrorism versus what's wholesome entertainment, so rather than allow this and disallow that, it's safer on a legal basis to ban them all.

I'm not saying I agree with the regs, but they exist for a reason. I have disposed of my Syma 107g copters since the ruling went into effect, so as not to be a hypocrite when enforcing the new laws.

Back to original point, this dude is an idiot. Everyone who even doesn't live in this country knows that flying anything near the home of a nation's leader is bound to lead to uncomfortably close group living situations for a specified length of time. Make an example of him,prosecute him to the maximum allowable sentence.

Thankfully it had not been Weaponized in any way.

There is a very real possibility that a hostile foreign government could hack its way into this nation’s power grid infrastructure and cause untold havoc and nothing and no one seems to be doing anything about that possibility.

But now they have something they can really sink their teeth into, to show us all how seriously they are taking any possible avenue terrorists could use to attack the White House.

Look for House and Senate hearings in the near future.

Interesting:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...technological-fix-phantom-menace-no-fly-zones

s6

stealth6 said:

Interesting:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...technological-fix-phantom-menace-no-fly-zones

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That's already in the firmware of their newer models (like the P2V that I have). The one that landed in the White House lawn was an older model.

-- Roger

Apparently, the operator was a government employee with an Intel agency. He was apparently also drunk at the time. He must have connections because any ordinary person would have lost both his clearance and job.

https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/27/politics/drone-white-house-crash-secret-service/index.html

Even if there was some kind of frequency disrupter that caused it to crash, the scary part is that this illustrates that a Remotely Operated Airial Vehicle can operate its way right into the Yard.
A different type of RC vehicle could in theory be going fast enough that once it made it to the Gate, inertia could glide it the rest of the way to wherever it was pointed when Radio Contact failed.
Then again, a Knife Weilding guy with half a Foot Jumped the Fence, made it all the way inside and down the hallway and into another Room, so I doubt they could even stop a Rogue Beach Ball.:wink:

The media is of course blowing this way out of proportion... the 5:00 news tags made it sound like it was some kind of attack instead of some guy's toy getting away from him. Then again, when did R/C aircraft suddenly become "drones"? Hopefully nobody will do anything stupid like that with hobby rockets, then we'll all become kooks shooting off "missiles"...

I was talking with my RC flying buddies. The story does not stand up to scrutiny. We have concluded this was a staged event to jusify expansion of federal power at the expense of RC model flying.

TopRamen said:

Even if there was some kind of frequency disrupter that caused it to crash, the scary part is that this illustrates that a Remotely Operated Airial Vehicle can operate its way right into the Yard.
A different type of RC vehicle could in theory be going fast enough that once it made it to the Gate, inertia could glide it the rest of the way to wherever it was pointed when Radio Contact failed.
Then again, a Knife Weilding guy with half a Foot Jumped the Fence, made it all the way inside and down the hallway and into another Room, so I doubt they could even stop a Rogue Beach Ball.:wink:

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[video=youtube;T5YTXnnQjC4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5YTXnnQjC4[/video]


Rogue Beach balls can be dangerous.

boomtube-mk2 said:

Rogue Beach balls can be dangerous.

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When beach balls are outlawed, only Jimmy Buffett fans will have beach balls.