New Footage Captures Drone Crash Over Apple Park

jacobh101 said:
lucky it didn't break a solar panel!
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Schranke said:
Damm he is lucky that the solar panels seams intact.
Not damages one would like to pay.
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Even common glass covered solar panels are made to withstand one inch hail at 50 MPH. And that's a very concentrated hit point.

A two pound much wider drone falling at less speed is more dangerous to people, I'd think. (FAA tests says such a drone hits a person's head with about 100 foot lbs of pressure.)
 
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We'll see if Apple bills him for any damage.

My DJI Phantom 4 decided to just drop straight out of the sky one day. The power seemed to entirely shut off. Luckily it landed in my own yard (I don't fly over other houses). The warranty had expired, but I sent it in anyway. They replaced it for free. I'm guessing they knew they had an issue.
 
Total guess, as cause is unknown, based on proximity of crash. Could be the case it flew low/hovered over the panels at a point where they were reflecting a ton of light/heat back out and it just overheated the drone and it went down?

Seem to remember some stories about a similar effect over large solar farms were the heat from the panels below were just frying birds dead as they flow over them.

Or Jony’s building an EMP device in his new white room.
 
whooleytoo said:
...and if that one crashes, get an even bigger drone to lift the first two off.

It's drones, all the way up...
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whooleytoo said:
...and if that one crashes, get an even bigger drone to lift the first two off.

It's drones, all the way up...
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During World War II training in California my dad’s crew crashed a plane in Death Valley. Rescue plane was sent in to retrieve them and the electronics gear and on landing it broke through the salt crust and flipped over. Rescue efforts proceeded in a different manner…
 
justperry said:
Drones should be forbidden for most people, luckily we have laws here to prevent such behaviour, even better, later on you need to get expensive papers for them.

Drones are no toys, even though most people think they are.
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Are toy RC planes banned too? "Drones" have been around since my childhood.
[doublepost=1519069968][/doublepost]Ironically, this the first good look I got at Apple's new HQ. Wow. That solar panel array is awesome.
 
Minor contribution: I work in solar power and deal with various things including PV module damage. Given the weight of a dji p4 and its surface area, I kind of doubt that a falling one, even at terminal velocity, would do any damage to a well manufactured/QA'd panel.

From a PV nerd standpoint, that is a sweeeet solar layout, very well done.
 
fairuz said:
Are toy RC planes banned too? "Drones" have been around since my childhood.
[doublepost=1519069968][/doublepost]Ironically, this the first good look I got at Apple's new HQ. Wow. That solar panel array is awesome.
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Not a lot of people use RC planes, it's a niche club and you need a permit where I am from, not for Drones though, you can buy and use them here with rules, but, as I said before, you will need papers for them later on, like a permit and it seems this will be quite expensive, so thats that and I am fine with it cause to me drones are dangerous things in the hands of most people.


NachoGrande said:
Idiot is lucky he didn’t injure or kill someone. It always amazes me that people think it’s okay to fly these over peoples heads.
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Not allowed here by law which is perfectly fine with me.
 
Gorms said:
Total guess, as cause is unknown, based on proximity of crash. Could be the case it flew low/hovered over the panels at a point where they were reflecting a ton of light/heat back out and it just overheated the drone and it went down?

Seem to remember some stories about a similar effect over large solar farms were the heat from the panels below were just frying birds dead as they flow over them.

Or Jony’s building an EMP device in his new white room.
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I think this is very plausible. Perhaps a large amount of reflected light directly into the steering cameras could have caused an odd maneuver.

Either that or it hit the force field.
 
Darmok N Jalad said:
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.
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This is not accurate. All airspace is regulated, but not all of it is controlled, and a great deal of controlled airspace runs right down to the surface. Apple Park happens to be in one of those areas (the Class C airspace for San Jose Airport). The airspace directly over Apple Park (one nautical mile in diameter) is currently subject to an exception for UAS operations from the surface to 400 feet AGL (above ground level). It's been in place since more or less the beginning of construction. Somebody had to submit a request to the FAA for this exception. Was it Apple or a drone operator? I've never heard. Either way, it expires on June 30, so that should be the end of drone flights over Apple Park.
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LoadStar said:
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.
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Class C. Details above.
 
Given that solar panels are built to withstand severe weather and hail, I doubt the drone caused much, if any, damage. Hopefully he gets it back .
 
docziandras said:
When I was a kid we used to have our footballs kicked over a fence just to never see them again. Now drones do the same.
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Roof of schools.

Then we figured out how to climb the roof and retrieve the sports-balls. Then we toked on the roof with lunch.
 
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fairuz said:
Question is, do his laws allow for civilian shotgun ownership? Cause I guarantee if you fly that around my hometown, someone will use it for target practice within a few minutes.
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No need to be so dramatic. I'm sure a pellet gun would take care of the situation very nicely.
 
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