Drone Operator Tased In Hawaii Park | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-05.13.24

Airborne-NextGen-05.14.24

Airborne-Unlimited-05.15.24 Airborne-AffordableFlyers-05.16.24

Airborne-Unlimited-05.17.24

Wed, Apr 29, 2015

Drone Operator Tased In Hawaii Park

Had Been Flying A 3-Inch Micro Quadcopter Over Volcano

A man on a family vacation in Hawaii was pursued and tased by a park ranger at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Saturday after flying a 3-inch micro quadcopter over the rising lava lake at Halema'uma'u Crater to capture some images.

Hawaii News Now reports that while most witnesses to the incident say the ranger used excessive force, park officials contend that Travis Sanders was jeopardizing public safety by taking pictures of the lava lake with his tiny aircraft, and the action was justified by his behavior.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park spokesperson Jessica Ferracane said that it is illegal to fly an unmanned aircraft in all 407 national park units across the United States. "That national policy was enacted in August of last year and the reason is for visitor and resource protection and visitor enjoyment," she said.

Sanders, 35, said he didn't think it would be a big deal to launch the tiny quad over the scene, but he was approached in the dark by "a guy" who told him to land the aircraft. Sanders said he did not know it was a ranger, and said he "sounded angry and confrontational ... like he wanted to fight."

Sanders said he told the ranger he didn't have ID and "I'm leaving."

But Ferracane says Sanders "refused to identify himself" and "fled", so the ranger used his taser, which he is authorized to carry, to stop Sanders from getting away.  "The ranger deployed his taser to stop the fleeing suspect and then arrested the suspect for failure to comply with a lawful order and interfering with agency functions," she said.

Nearly 100 people, including Sanders' family witnessed the incident. Sanders said his daughter was crying, and "going after" the ranger. Others backed Sanders, saying they were video recording the incident on their phones and "he's not going to do anything else to you."

Sanders said he told the ranger that he was not resisting, but Ferracane says otherwise. "Apparently the suspect was very unpredictable and very unruly and the national park service ranger was really unclear what his next actions would be and needed to stop this individual."

FMI: www.nps.gov/fire/aviation/safety/unmanned-aerial-systems.cfm, www.nps.gov/havo

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.17.24): Very High Frequency

Very High Frequency The frequency band between 30 and 300 MHz. Portions of this band, 108 to 118 MHz, are used for certain NAVAIDs; 118 to 136 MHz are used for civil air/ground voi>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (05.17.24)

Aero Linx: Aviation Suppliers Association Established February 25, 1993, the Aviation Suppliers Association (ASA), based in Washington, D.C., is a not-for-profit association, repre>[...]

ANN FAQ: Submit a News Story!

Have A Story That NEEDS To Be Featured On Aero-News? Here’s How To Submit A Story To Our Team Some of the greatest new stories ANN has ever covered have been submitted by our>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: ANN Visits Wings Over The Rockies Exploration Of Flight

From 2021 (YouTube Version): Colorado Campus Offers aVariety Of Aerospace Entertainment And Education Wings over the Rockies Exploration of Flight is the second location for the Wi>[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 05.16.24: PRA Runway, Wag-Aero Sold, Young Eagles

Also: Paramotor Champ's, Electric Ultralight, ICON BK Update, Burt Rutan at Oshkosh! The Popular Rotorcraft Association is reaching out for help in rebuilding their private runway >[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC