I dunno, I think the people fighting a forest fire have a point when they say that they do not want to deal with some guy taking video (what better justification could the drone operator have?).
Imagine a hypothetical headline: "Black cat steps on mirror, firefighters let house burn for fear of upsetting spirits."
This would probably upset you and your frustration would probably not be aimed at the cat. Let this be one end of a spectrum and put "drone interferes with firefighting helicopter" at the other end.
I don't see one vested interest's hunch as strong evidence that reality lies near to one end or another of this spectrum.
I don't understand what you are getting at. What's the equivalence between a random black cat on a mirror and an intentionally operated drone?
If there was some meaningful need for random everybody to operate drones by forest fires, I might care that the pilots are serving some weird agenda, but I don't see any need for (especially private, unregistered, non-communicating) drones to operate near forest fires, so I don't even care if the pilots are just objecting for the lulz.
> What's the equivalence between a random black cat on a mirror and an intentionally operated drone?
It's possible that the drone was exactly as not-dangerous as the black cat in that it was far away from the helicoptor and would have backed off if the helicoptor had moved towards it.
It's also possible that the operator was incompetent (incapable of remaining far from the helicoptor) or maliciously trying to run it into the helicopter. But I'm not going to jump to that assumption on some guy's hunch -- which is what everyone else seems to be doing.
> I don't see any need for drones to operate near forest fires,
You almost certainly have hobbies that I don't see any need for. That wouldn't be justification for banning them.
Feel free to ban carrying out any of my hobbies in the proximity of forest fire control operations.
Let's make the silly analogy more accurate: Firefighters ask witches not to bring black cats and mirrors to active house fires. Witches outraged, no one else cares.
f there was some meaningful need for black cats to step on mirrors, I might care that the firefighters are serving some weird agenda, but I don't see any need for (especially private, unregistered) cats to be allowed near mirrors, so I don't even care if the firefighters are just objecting for the lulz.
