Hurricane Harvey: Coast Guard Helicopter Rescue @ My Neighborhood

Unless you a professional or public safety worker with official clearance do not violate public safety no fly. Not now. Not ever.

Yes, there are fine reasons to fly. We can even convince ourselves they are at least slightly noble reasons, but don't do it.

With care, the risk of taking down a rescue craft are small, but they are not zero. Your innocent even slightly noble flight could cause death. A low flying craft can come over the trees in seconds with your UAV in its path.

Your flight will also make life harder for both crew and dispatch. What will dispatch do when an unauthorized UAV is reported? Yep, they have no choice but to shut down and you keep people from getting the help they need. You help keep the fire out of control. You, no matter how wonderful a person you are in real life, are the irresponsible tool.

I haven't flown since the only time I took it up and determined the wond was too much.

Positive thoughts and healing vibes for your neighbors.

I would feel awkward taking photos, but I do feel it is important to document the event and tell the story for everyone else who can't imagine what it's like.

This photographer provided a good example: http://www.cnn.com …rvey-cnnphotos/index.html

Ascenta wrote in post #18441296
I would feel awkward taking photos, but I do feel it is important to document the event and tell the story for everyone else who can't imagine what it's like.

This photographer provided a good example: http://www.cnn.com …rvey-cnnphotos/index.html

I'd only disagree with your choice of the word "good"
Exceptional!

Take photo's, that's journalism, that's photography, that's a huge element of your hobby, personally I think the best. I was in charge of flood responses in an area of the UK in 2014, flat out dawn till dusk, not many chances to take photo's, but I did when I could. In hindsight, not my best work, but I did have my mind on other things to be fair. However, good or not, they were used widely by local media, agencies, employers , presentations, training events, response plans, they were popping up all over the place! I still see them popping up and wonder how the heck did they get a copy of that??

As for the drone, no way, the risk is tiny, but just imagine if that risk was realised, how would you feel? What if it crashed and killed people, your neighbors, even just got grounded so couldn't rescue people? Do you want your face all over the worlds media? JUst don't even think about it, or, offer it's use to local agencies for official S&R purposes....

Keep you and your family safe fella, photo's don't matter much in comparison....

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/n4tu​ZN

What about video...like news reporters doing interviews? That seems a bit too intrusive, especially at a shelter. There was a lady that went off on a CNN reporter on live tv and they let it roll...oops! F-bombs and everything else.

I think there's a distinct difference between being an actual photojournalist and doing your job and being a hobbyist with a camera shooting for yourself. Don't get me wrong I brought my camera with the full intention of documenting things because this is historic stuff, but when you're actually in the thick of things it doesn't feel right at all because at the end of the day, these photos would be for myself.

The bigger priority for me is to actually be actively helping out.

Until an independent photographer / photojournalist gets paid, they're taking them for themselves too....

I see you live on Houston, the 4th biggest US city in the richest country in the world, in a very rich area due to the oil wealth, surely there must be 10 people helping for every person who needs help?

mystik610 wrote in post #18440642
Technically you shouldn't be flying a drone since there are all sorts of search and rescue choppers out right now....there's a staging area near me and there are military choppers constantly flying overhead. But the likelihood of disrupting anything with a tiny drone going up for a few minutes at a time is pretty minimal.

Keep in mind that hobbyist drones have impacted fire fighting efforts during wildfires and Medevac helicopters trying to land to help accident victims.

The risk of a mid-air may seem minimal to you (and it likely is), but if your drone is spotted it may prevent your neighbors from getting the help they need.

Further, violating the FAA, FARs, etc gives other hobbyist a bad name and may force the government to enact additional regulations in the future.

welshwizard1971 wrote in post #18441701
Until an independent photographer / photojournalist gets paid, they're taking them for themselves too....

I see you live on Houston, the 4th biggest US city in the richest country in the world, in a very rich area due to the oil wealth, surely there must be 10 people helping for every person who needs help?

Hehe I think you'd have to be here to really understand. It's bad in parts of the city. It's very hard to stand idle and not do something that will really help people...and nothing I photograph is going to help anyone. I'd rather have a boat than a camera right now.

I'm not photographing anything right now. Photography is a hobby for me. My profession is I'm a state licensed Master Electrician so I've been going around helping out checking out peoples electrical and helping cleanup efforts.

Photography is the last thing on my mind sorry. I look at this as an opportunity to aid in what I know best.

Not interested in taking photos of this mess. We were too busy helping friends pull up carpet and removing furniture and sheetrock to even think about picking up a camera. And I sure as heck would not want to bring my camera to those locations anyway because of all of the water and the resulting humidity inside those houses.

Tim