Search is on for crazy pilot who flew model plane at Croker game.

Run_to_da_hills

"AN investigation has been launched after a model aircraft was illegally flown over a packed Croke Park.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is attempting to find the pilot of the remote control plane that could have caused a tragedy, the Herald can reveal.

The model aircraft was flown over the Kerry v Mayo game on August 21. It was estimated that at least 50,000 people attended the game and, according to the IAA, such an amateur stunt could have ended in tragedy.

Aviation experts said a fan or one of the GAA players could have been killed or serious injured if the aircraft had failed.

A spokesperson for the Model Aeronautics Council described the pilot as "some maverick" who did "everything that must not be done when flying a remote controlled craft".

Since when did those that fly model planes become pilots?

They obviously don't need a license.

This case seems serious enough to involve the IAA.

http://www.herald.ie/news/search-is-on-for-crazy-pilot-who-flew-model-plane-at-croker-game-2861471.html

Tenger

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

A spokesperson for the Model Aeronautics Council described the pilot as "some maverick" who did "everything that must not be done when flying a remote controlled craft"

"Tower, this is GhostRider, requesting a flyby......"
"Negative Ghostrider, the pattern is full...."

pclancy

A video of the craft being flown over the stadium has since been posted on YouTube, and angry aviation enthusiasts have condemned the incident.

In response to the video, one person wrote, "Okay, now you're just looking for trouble."

In response to online comments, the person believed to be behind the stunt said: "Get over yourself. I'm not a pilot. Pilots fly real planes. This is a toy."

Anyone see a link to the vid? Youtube blocked in work for me.

I wonder where it took off any landed from, there arent many flat open areas near Croker are there?

franklyon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxvhqK7wyrc


Didnt look too dangerous...

Took off and landed from a nearby GAA pitch

castie

franklyon wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxvhqK7wyrc


Didnt look too dangerous...

Took off and landed from a nearby GAA pitch

Crap landing

pclancy

Yeah not the best landing Seemed to stall twice over croke park as well. Guess it doesnt matter that high up but still pretty silly thing to do. They'll probably find him from the evidence in his other vids on youtube.

Poly

pity it wasn't the Dub-Donegal match, it would have been the only entertaining thing to have happened

castie

pclancy wrote: »

Yeah not the best landing Seemed to stall twice over croke park as well. Guess it doesnt matter that high up but still pretty silly thing to do. They'll probably find him from the evidence in his other vids on youtube.

What can they realistically do to him?

Bigcheeze

It didn't fly over the stadium at any point

pclancy

I dunno. Take away his batteries maybe and call him naughty.

lord lucan

Can't see much of a story here tbh. Model plane flies in the air in the general area of Croke Park for a couple of minutes and returns to land on a grand big pitch. Didn't go over Croker or try and 'buzz' the Hill,all in all it was what other model aircraft have probably done many times in the past in urban areas.

vibe666

that wasn't anywhere near the pitch at all, storm in a teacup as usual from the press and garda. since when is it illegal to fly model planes?

also, there was a full sized plane pulling a banner in shot briefly in the video, so it's not like it was a no fly zone.

also, on a related note, it looks like he's using one of the keyring cams from the BA thread to record it, so he might well be a boardsie.

Run_to_da_hills

pclancy wrote: »

Yeah not the best landing Seemed to stall twice over croke park as well. Guess it doesnt matter that high up but still pretty silly thing to do. They'll probably find him from the evidence in his other vids on youtube.

If this was in England his IP address would have been tracked and hall door would have been kicked in by now.

pclancy

Its made me really want an RC plane. Must resist and spend money on flying actual planes that don't need batteries....

Blue Punto

Well who ever it was ,they drive a white ford focus van(that looks a little battered)

castie

Blue Punto wrote: »

Well who ever it was ,they drive a white ford focus van(that looks a little battered)

If he drives like he lands no wonder!!

Sunnyisland

I thought it might be another secret kerry forward line, this time with a buzz.

cocoshovel

Styrofoam model plane terrorist attack on Dublin!

xflyer

since when is it illegal to fly model planes?

It is illegal to fly model aircraft within a certain distance of an airport. Croke park is close to Dublin airport. He can be busted for that alone. He's readily identifiable too if you look at his youtube page. Desodon is a bit of a clue to his name.

Doubt if much will happen to him though.

jimbis

His landing on the other video over Dublin was pretty good though!

And yes, i now want one too!

kingtut

At least it was more entertaining than the game itself.

GAA :rolleyes: what a load of cock! :cool:

GoGoGadget

Looked pretty harmless, he seemed to know what he was doing, until the landing that is.

Been looking at the IAA and MACI websites but couldn't find current laws in place regarding model flying. All I can find is rules regarding insurance cover and that the MACI will be very upset with you if you break their rules...

Be interesting to see how stringent the actual legislation is. Had an r/c chopper years ago and remember you couldn't fly it above 500ft, like a reverse 500ft rule.

Anyone know of any SI's regarding this?

http://www.maci.ie/rulebook/

drdeadlift

If the guards really have a hard on to catch him they will have footage of him entering the bishops palace by Drumcondra road or Clonliffe ave.Don't think they will be too bothered to find him,the authorities will do the serious press release then that will be the end of it.

vibe666

xflyer wrote: »

It is illegal to fly model aircraft within a certain distance of an airport. Croke park is close to Dublin airport. He can be busted for that alone. He's readily identifiable too if you look at his youtube page. Desodon is a bit of a clue to his name.

Doubt if much will happen to him though.

how close though? where he is flying from is a good 6km away from the airport and i've seen people flying model planes in the phoenix park before which isn't much further away than that.

given that he didn't even actually fly directly over croke park, i don't see what the problem is. you'd think the garda would have their hands full taking care of all the actual crimes going on in and around dublin.

tfitzgerald

I think this is all a storm in a teacup . He didn't go near Croke park and yes I now want a r c plane

GoGoGadget

vibe666 wrote: »

how close though? where he is flying from is a good 6km away from the airport and i've seen people flying model planes in the phoenix park before which isn't much further away than that.

given that he didn't even actually fly directly over croke park, i don't see what the problem is. you'd think the garda would have their hands full taking care of all the actual crimes going on in and around dublin.

Bingo.. Found info at last from this report by the AAIU. It's an old report so things may have changed since.

http://www.aaiu.ie/upload/general/3606-0.pdf

The only regulation in Ireland, laid down by the Irish Aviation Authority
(IAA) specific to model aircraft, is that they must not operated within 5 km
of an aerodrome or elsewhere not above 200 feet or not within 2 km of an
aircraft in flight.

vibe666

GoGoGadget wrote: »

Bingo.. Found info at last from this report by the AAIU. It's an old report so things may have changed since.

http://www.aaiu.ie/upload/general/3606-0.pdf

The only regulation in Ireland, laid down by the Irish Aviation Authority
(IAA) specific to model aircraft, is that they must not operated within 5 km
of an aerodrome or elsewhere not above 200 feet or not within 2 km of an
aircraft in flight.

awesome. i did have a quick google, but didn't see anthing jumping out at me so i gave up.

xflyer

AIC Ireland:

ENR 5.5.4. Model Aircraft Flying

ENR 5.5.4.1 Small aircraft which weigh more than 1.5kg, without fuel, shall not be flown within 5km of an aerodrome
boundary, unless reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure the flight can be made safely.
ENR 5.5.4.2 Small aircraft which weigh more than 7.0kg, without fuel, shall not be flown:-
a. Within an aerodrome traffic zone;
or
b. Within 5km from an aerodrome boundary;
or
c. Within 2km of an aircraft in flight;
Also such aircraft, except with the permission of the IAA and in accordance with any conditions subject to
which the permission may be granted, shall not be flown:-
a. Within controlled airspace;
or

b. At a height of more than 400ft (120M) above the surface of the earth ;
or

c. For aerial work purposes;

07 APR 2011

07 APR 2011

AIRAC Amd

We don't know the weight of the aircraft or indeed the height at which he flew. But possible violations are distance from airport, distance from the banner towing aircraft mentioned above and height above ground and flying within controlled airspace. I'm not in a position to judge but others might. But apart from anything else flying over or near thousands of people with an object that he could potentially could lose control of, is not a good idea.

It's also worth pointing out that the Phoenix park is an approved model flying zone and thus has higher altitude limits. In fact years ago a large model aircraft got away from it's owner there and flew to, of all places: Dublin airport, where it landed out of fuel on a taxiway. It was the subject on an AAIU incident report.

nag

Just beat me to it xflyer

ENR 5.5.4.
http://www.iaa.ie/safe_reg/iaip/Published%20Files/AIP%20Files/ENR/EI_ENR_5_5_EN.pdf

Tenger

tfitzgerald wrote: »

..................and yes I now want a r c plane

I have a large park near me conveniently enough!!
Where to get one? How much?

How to explain it to the missus.

GoGoGadget

xflyer wrote: »

AIC Ireland: We don't know the weight of the aircraft or indeed the height at which he flew. But possible violations are distance from airport, distance from the banner towing aircraft mentioned above and height above ground and flying within controlled airspace.

Have a look through his other vids on youtube, aircraft looks to be a Parkzone Radian he's flying.

http://www.youtube.com/user/desodon#p/u/11/LnG2iS1LPDk

Electric motor, 2m wingspan and weight of 830g. Specs are here.

http://www.parkzone.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=PKZ4700

He defo looks closer than 2km to the Cub towing the banner alright.

Height of Croker is 35m from what I can see here. Very roughly he looks to be no more than twice that so say 70m/230ft.

http://www.gilroymcmahon.com/nonflash/croke.html

Although going by legislation if he's under 1.5kg looks like he can do what he wants unless there's something else covering it?

desodon

Great thread...

GoGoGadget

Tenger wrote: »

I have a large park near me conveniently enough!!
Where to get one? How much?

How to explain it to the missus.

http://www.parkzone.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=PKZ4700


Have fun!

Paparazzo

Big deal over nothing. I love the line:

Aviation experts said a fan or one of the GAA players could have been killed or serious injured if the aircraft had failed.

GoGoGadget

Paparazzo wrote: »

Big deal over nothing. I love the line:

I'd agree and I'm not so sure they were experts.

It's made of foam, weighs 830g spread over a large surface area (2m wingspan) and it even has a bendy prop that folds back... The odds of it failing coupled with the odds of it actually hitting someone if the engine failed are slim.

Death?? I'd say a bruise would be pushing it!

Run_to_da_hills

GoGoGadget wrote: »

Death?? I'd say a bruise would be pushing it!

Not if the plane decapitated a large goose in mid flight and caused it to fall down on a player.

GoGoGadget

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Not if the plane decapitated a large goose in mid flight and caused it to fall down on a player.

Touché..

Tenger

Paparazzo wrote: »

Big deal over nothing. I love the line:Aviation experts said a fan or one of the GAA players could have been killed or serious injured if the aircraft had failed.

I wonder are these the same 'experts' who often appear on SkyNews?

Andrew33

Just looked at that vid, bleedin' brillo! I defo want one, could do covert spy missions on the neighbours!

Ilyushin76

Andrew33 wrote: »

Just looked at that vid, bleedin' brillo! I defo want one, could do covert spy missions on the neighbours!

Have one of these and are excellent fun.Unfortunately they are no longer available in Europe but can be still got from the US.There is a nice few threads here about them.Video from one at over 1000 feet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oSwiT3Lidk

the beerhunter

vibe666 wrote: »

also, there was a full sized plane pulling a banner in shot briefly in the video, so it's not like it was a no fly zone.

other aircraft unaware of airborne objects in the vicinity is exactly the problem here.

smellslikeshoes

When I watched the video my first thought was bit of a storm in a teacup but after thinking about it a bit more i can see why they are reacting so seriously to it. What he done wasn't so bad, I don't think anyone was in any real danger etc. but this video could open the floodgates on people doing similar things which actually could put people in danger, he has to be made an example of because of this.

Delancey

Obviously things must be deathly slow at the IAA if they decide a full investigation is needed.
Pure silly season stuff....

desodon

Ilyushin76 wrote: »

Have one of these and are excellent fun.Unfortunately they are no longer available in Europe but can be still got from the US.There is a nice few threads here about them.Video from one at over 1000 feet.

I reckon I'm easily over 1000 feet in my other video over Dublin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnG2iS1LPDk

mickdw

Are you the actual guy who flew the croke park video?

desodon

mickdw wrote: »

Are you the actual guy who flew the croke park video?

Yup...

Bruthal

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Not if the plane decapitated a large goose in mid flight and caused it to fall down on a player.

He would be goosed then alright.

xflyer

You're are doomed Des, it's all very well breaking the rules flying over Dublin. But you flagrantly disrespected the national game. A GAA 'star' might have been injured. Worse it might have been an GAA 'allstar' or even someone from Kerry. It's all very well flying over a soccer or a rugby game. But you did it over Croke Park.

Just hand yourself in right now. I hope you like prison food and the lags in Mountjoy are starved of young fresh meat at the moment.

You will be on the front page of the Sun in the next few days.

Jammyc

desodon,


Not to sound smart or anything, but genuinely asking. Do you have a plan/backup if the RC Plane broke down in mid air? Surely a fall from 1000ft into the street in Dublin could seriously hurt someone?

Aside from that, great views in those videos.

Bruthal

Yes desodon, hand yourself in now, before you end up filming a game like the dublin match last weekend.

the_syco

pclancy wrote: »

Yeah not the best landing Seemed to stall twice over croke park as well. Guess it doesnt matter that high up but still pretty silly thing to do. They'll probably find him from the evidence in his other vids on youtube.

Seemed to shut the engine off twice, each time whilst looking towards the pitch. Aft er the first time, he turns the engine back on when he looks away, as if so the plane doesn't fly over the pitch, and then he flies towards it and turns off the engine. I think this is done to give an unobstructed view of the pitch.