Forest Service Tells Public That UAVs Can Prevent Firefighters From Doing Their Job

A DC-10 carrying nearly 11,000 gallons of fire retardant was forced to break off its run near Big Bear Lake in California last Wednesday when the crew spotted what they described as a "hobby drone" flying at about 11,000 feet above sea level in the area. Two smaller planes also broke off their runs, and all were forced to jettison their loads before landing ... but not on the fire.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Chon Bribiescas, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, said he assumes that the people operating the UAVs "have no idea what they are doing. They not only endangered the folks on the ground, but they endanger the pilots.”

There had been a TFR posted for the area where the firefighting aircraft were operating. The paper reports that the DC-10 dropped its retardant along the California/Nevada border, and the smaller aircraft also were forced to offload their retardant because they were over their gross landing weight. The cost of the scrubbed mission was set at between $10,000 and $15,000.

The UAV which forced the aircraft to turn back was described as being a fixed-wing model with a wingspan of about 4 feet, according to local authorities. As the firefighting planes returned to their base a Lake Arrowhead, a second UAV was seen flying at about 1,200 feet AGL. The FAA limits small UAVs to an altitude of 400 feet AGL.

Mike Eaton, forest aviation officer with the U.S. Forest Service, said that the air drops had to be suspended for about two hours because of the unauthorized aircraft in the area. He said local police would be patrolling roads in the nearby mountains looking for the operators of such aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Forest Service urged the public to stay away from the fire area, which Eaton said grew because of the scrubbed sorties. They posted red fliers around a fire map that stated "If you fly, we can't", and uploaded the message on Twitter as well.

(U.S. Forest Service poster)

FMI: www.fs.fed.us