New Footage Captures Drone Crash Over Apple Park

[Darmok N Jalad]

Why not use another drone to lift and take the “crashed” drone away? I don’t know much of drones, but seems logical since many of these devices can lift themselves twice over now.

Are there laws for drones flying over private property like that, especially for such a secretive company?
This seems dangerous, it could have broken one of the solar panels or even hit someone if it fell in the park area.

Once you get to a certain relative altitude, you are in public airspace. Go too high, and you are in regulated airspace (1200ft relative altitude). This would make it legal to fly over the campus, but illegal to retrieve with a second drone since you would be flying too low. Drones must be registered, especially for commercial use, and must be flown inside the "line of sight" of the pilot (so they can't rely on the transmitted video footage to fly). Based on this news, it sounds like the operator probably did everything correctly, as they notified Apple of the crash.

 

[dwhittington]

new industry, drone tow trucks.

I would think the rigging would be challenging.

There is only one drone operator out there who would care enough to risk losing another drone in hopes of recovering the original.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Are there laws for drones flying over private property like that, especially for such a secretive company?
This seems dangerous, it could have broken one of the solar panels or even hit someone if it fell in the park area.

It varies by state and if there isn’t one for that state, there are most likely policies and regulations determined by local authorities.
I believe in California, you just can’t record people without their consent. Don’t know how that works with businesses and their private properties though but I would assume Apple was informed beforehand about these videos.

 

[dwhittington]

If you remember, a few years ago Apple was quite upset about one of their lost phones not being returned. It would be hypocritical of them not to return the drone.

No one “took” the drone.

 

[TMRJIJ]

If you remember, a few years ago Apple was quite upset about one of their lost phones not being returned. It would be hypocritical of them not to return the drone.

Apple didn’t take the drone. It’s still on the roof with the solar panels.

 

[Onexy]

If apple doesn’t return the drone it’s theft.

 

[macduke]

I wouldn’t have even bothered with asking for it back. I’d be too worried about a $20k bill for fixing a chipped solar panel section.

 

[LoadStar]

Isn't Apple Park within the Class B controlled airspace of Norman Y Mineta San Jose International Airport? If so, technically no one should be flying a drone in that area unless they are coordinating it through ATC, I believe.

 

[alphaswift]

They should impose a ‘stupid’ tax in the form of an inspection fee for possible damage to the solar panels prior to the return of the drone.

 

[justperry]

Forbidden?

Yes, forbidden because most people aren't pilots, are not aware of all the dangers.

 

[SoundJudgment]

Why wouldn't Apple return the drone to its owner? It's supposed to be a DJI model and Apple is supposed to have a good relationship with that company and its products. So this would be good PR.

 

[justperry]

Why wouldn't Apple return the drone to its owner? It's supposed to be a DJI model and Apple is supposed to have a good relationship with that company and its products. So this would be good PR.

Huh.....¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[philipandrews]

Does anyone know if Apple Park has a helipad? If so if any of these drone operators did not get clearance they could face some serious fines. I am part 107 certified for my photog business and I am going to guess that when they are flying these there has to be people around. The moment you fly over someone and dont have written waivers from that person you are in violation. Apple wouldn't be one of the companies I'd be flying around for fun.

 

[puckhead193]

Interesting. If damages are more then $500 then he'll have to file a report with the FAA. I wonder what went wrong with the drone. It wasn't a power issue because it still kept on recording. Prop failure maybe? Either way scary thing as I just got my Mavic Air

 

[ZMacintosh]

Well, if its on their property...sure they can return it, for a price. Its not like some kid accidentally kicked a soccer ball over their neighbors yard as its polite to return it. they took a chance flying in airspace (idk if it is restricted due to the vicinity of the airport(s)) and it hitting someone else property. Apple nor DJI are responsible for that.

 

[Saturnine]

Everyone’s a smart-ass around here. Let’s have a quick recap for those idiots who are blaming the drone pilot...

The drone appears to have simply fallen out of the sky. It does happen from time to time through no fault of the pilots. Don’t automatically assume it’s the pilot’s fault.

You also do not know whether or not the pilot was flying with permission. Some pompous fool will probably say “Well it’s only a Phantom so it must be an amateur flying without permission. A professional would be using an Inspire.” Well, many, many professional photographers and cinematophers used Phantoms and Mavics, especially for a little bit of B-Roll.

And as for ownership of the drone, they have to give it back. They cannot just decide to keep it. Oh sure, they could uee for trespass if the pilot was flying without permission but they absolutely may not keep the drone or its memory card. It’s not their choice.

So, the pilot could have been an irresponsible twelve year old kid flying loop-de-loops overhead without permission. Or they could have been a professional photographer with a commercial license and permission to fly over Apple Park. My point is, you don’t know, so why jump to conclusions?

 

[Glideslope]

Trained falcon strike

It did look like something struck it. The props were turning and it was recording video all the way. The operator may have not had the ability to regain control if a gyro was damaged. Most connection errors are fly offs.

With all the trees in place now the possibility of defensive birds is real. I’ve had one unit struck by a large hawk. I was able to recover and I set it down immediately. My video was very similar. Just sayin......

 

[K. Bayquoi]

Apple HQ Lazer Defence Shield, primary test - successful.

Yes, I had already heard, Apple put out the word that there was no drone flying allowed...so maybe you are correct and they have an iDrone defence system in place.

 

[Kaibelf]

Damm he is lucky that the solar panels seams intact.
Not damages one would like to pay.

Drones are fast becoming a nuisance in the hands of privat persons. No regard for privat property.
(Of course not all of them)

He is even luckier it didn’t hit a PERSON.

 

[frou]

Jony Ive is fixin' to give the kid a Stone-Cold-Stunner for littering on his roof.

 

[iVoid]

So is Apple shooting down drones over it's campus now?

All joking aside, you shouldn't be flying your drones over private property like that.

 

[mi7chy]

Apple declared a no fly zone over its new campus. Maybe it was disabled on purpose rather than a malfunction. Wouldn't risk an Inspire to fish it out.

 

[Costino1]

Yes, I had already heard, Apple put out the word that there was no drone flying allowed...so maybe you are correct and they have an iDrone defence system in place.

But if there was a defense system, the second drone would have crashed as well. I thought the same as you that the drone’s communications were jammed by Apple; but then the second drone would have had a hiccup too.

 

[HowieIsaacks]

An unknown error caused the drone to crash. The drone should be named High Sierra.

High Sierra has been very stable for me on both of my Macs. Perhaps you should seek help to fix your issues.

 

[bmustaf]

It's a Phantom, so still a single battery and given it was transmitting video after whatever incident caused it to exit controlled flight, I doubt that as all systems are powered off the same bus.

It seems a lot more likely given that and the pattern of its tumble that it lost lift on a single side or suffered a major flight control systems failure (the former more likely by far, propellers *do* fail [esp if compromised from previous damage], birds *do* collide with drones, and motors *do* fail [albeit less than the other two events]).

But power delivery doesn't seem to be the issue here on such a simple drone, failures are much more likely to be binary (you have power or you don't to all systems) given the lack of redundant or multiple power paths, there are some tiny niche edge cases were may that's not the case (e.g. failure at the exact area of interface of the power bus to a given subsystem/component), but that wasn't the battery problem you mention, and the odds of that failure are much, much, much lower than just losing a prop because a bird hit it or it decided to disintegrate at a point of weakness/stress.

Must be an older gen drone running the newest OS with batt. problems.