Air Force One Just Had A Near Miss With A Drone According To Reporter Onboard

a reply to: ArMaP Your points are valid. No civilian would or is allowed to fly battery operated UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) aka civilian drones in military airspace. The drone the reporters are speaking of, if military, could have been a usual flight accompanying or protecting air force one. The reporters are just too vague. If it was a legitimate invasion of airspace, it would have made headlines. A civilian drone flying over a baseball game about a month ago made headlines all across the country.

Mr CG

a reply to: Arbitrageur ..I fly drones for fun. The normal civilian drone quad copter aka UAS(unmanned aircraft system) is/ are invisible to the naked eye from around 400 ft away, unless you are the pilot. It's like trying to spot a needle in a haystack, literally. Whatever drone this "reporter" saw, it had to be very large. Also, air force one would have been moving at a few hundred miles per hour, a civilian drone only moves at around 45 mph (average). There is no way it was a civilian drone, if this reporter actually made a visual ID of what he saw. Civilian drones are small. If it was a civilian drone, the feds or local police would have used FLIR tech and or other techniques to follow the drone to it's origin or landing area. This kind of incident would definitely result in an arrest. The only way a civilian could get away with such close contact to air force one is to crash the drone after contact. And, crash it into a swamp or a place where it would be irretrievable.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

"Remarkably Close" = "Remarkably Large". A 12 inch long civilian drone wouldn't/ couldn't be seen by even the keenest human eye from a plane (AF1) going a few hundred miles per hour vs the average 20-40 mph of civilian drones. If the drone were close enough to see, the 12 inch drone could only be seen for a fraction of a second. It would look like an imperceptible dot, as air force one passed by it. If it were a 5 foot military drone, the reporter would have a good chance of seeing it. It appears, the media is trying to outlaw or severely restrict civilian hobbyists from flying their drones. Paranoia = self destroy ya. Covid B.S. "Those who desire security over freedom, lose their freedom." Or, something like that. Guns and Cell phone cameras are great! But not, Drones with cameras - bad? We have had remote controlled jets that fly at 200 mph for 2 decades now. And these are hobby folk. Put a camera on it , and it becomes taboo. But cell phone cams and guns are ok. Our society is in need of psychiatric help.

a reply to: cgmaxed

There are no UAVs, or other aircraft flying with Air Force One to protect it, unless requested. It's only requested if there's a threat against the aircraft. And there are no UAVs based out of Andrews, so it would have had to come from somewhere else, with an escort aircraft since it would have to fly outside of any MOA.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Sounds like it was a civilian craft.


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a reply to: dragonridr

But how could it be civilian. I own 5 of them. I lose sight of them at 400-500 ft. I can't believe a reporter saw a civilian quad, hexa, octa, etc. copter. If so, It must have been industrial size. I know it wasn't a DJI model. DJI's software prevents invasion or even takeoff near restricted airspace, such as military. Maybe it was some homemade hobbyist job. Or one of those 12,000 dollar fixed wing drones. They have a huge wing span and can take of vertically. Most are operated by commercial civilian users, not recreational users. Anyway, It's possible, but it would have needed a lot of speed and been very large for it to be visible from a jet. BY THE WAY, I (my drone) WAS TRACKED DOWN AND FOLLOWED BY A POLICE HELICOPTER ONCE, WHEN FLYING MY DRONE AT NIGHT, due to a neighbor's complaint. The police weren't familiar with FAA guidelines until I taught them that night. They left without incident. My point is, if someone was flying a drone near air force one, that drone would have been followed or tracked to it's landing point. Electric copter drones only have a max of 45 min flight time. They could have easily followed it until it landed. That's what the police did to find me. If the police would follow a drone, just because a neighbor's complaint, I would think the federal government would take this drone flying around AF1 a little more seriously.

a reply to: Zaphod58
There are no UAVs at Andrews? That sounds odd. I live in Naples Florida, The police dept has 29 Unmanned Aircraft Systems in service. We civilians call them UASs. Not sure why we don't call them UAVs. The word "drone" should not be used to describe UAVs / UASs. They are highly complex computer systems that interact with human controllers. Drone would imply, that the aircraft was sent on a mission plan without the control of any human ground based personnel. Anyway, thanks for your comments/reply. I love UAVs UASs. I follow the rules.

a reply to: cgmaxed

They have operating stations at various bases, but the actual aircraft are only at a few locations. They can't fly anywhere but an MOA without having an escort aircraft, so they're generally either near a large MOA, or near the coast where they can be out of the NAS quickly. Almost all the actual UAV bases are out west, with control stations at bases scattered through the country.