Some Genius Tried Flying His DJI Phantom At The White House; Crashes It Into Obama’s Lawn
Jan 27, 2015
Tiffany Mueller
Tiffany Mueller is a photographer and content strategist based in Hawi, Hawaii. Her work has been shared by top publications like The New York Times, Adobe, and others.
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Anyone who even remotely follows photography related news will know how difficult and trying it has been to get the FAA to establish new guidelines on the flying of drones. The current rules allow individuals to fly the unmanned aircraft for recreational purposes; however, there are very strict regulations in place for those wishing to use the aircraft for commercial purposes. To some, this seems slightly backwards, mostly in part because the public often has the tendency to do stupid things. Things that a trained, professional drone operator most likely wouldn’t do. Like attempt flying a Phantom over the front lawn of the White House.
Though, to you and me, flying a drone over the fence of the White House seems like a really quick way to get yourself detained , an unnamed genius did just that at 3AM on Monday morning. When the drone hit a tree and crashed into the President’s lawn, the Secret Service discovered the device and put the White House on lockdown. Later in the day, a man contacted the Secret Service taking responsibility of the crash. Though the Secret Service did not release the name of the man, they did say he was a government employee who was flying the drone purely for recreational purposes. The man, a Washington DC resident, does not work at the White House and was not charged with a crime.
JUST IN – photo of the drone that crashed on the White House grounds overnight pic.twitter.com/8wnOiKQlRi
— Vaughn Sterling (@vplus) January 26, 2015
While no physical damage was done other than the downed drone, it’s being speculated that the incident will cause a drastic slowdown and set back in whatever progress UAV advocacy groups had made over the past year. Bloomberg reported in a post today:
“The Obama administration was set to release new privacy standards and was reviewing a proposal to allow drones for commercial purposes such as for sporting events and oil-field inspections. Then one landed on the president’s lawn.”
In Bloombergs conversation with drone advocate, Patrick Egan, on Monday’s happening, Egan noted, ““I think this might chill it. It definitely shows some holes in the plan.”
Please let this unnamed government employees complete lapse of judgement serve as a reminder to all drone operators out there, professional or otherwise, that every time you take your aircraft out, you are acting as an ambassador of the entire drone community. Let’s try not to do things that undermine and damage all the efforts being put forth by advocacy groups to make operating a drone a legal and safe thing to do.
[ via Bloomberg | New York Times | Mashable | Lead Image by Diego Cambiaso]
Tiffany Mueller
Tiffany Mueller is a photographer and content strategist based in Hawi, Hawaii. Her work has been shared by top publications like The New York Times, Adobe, and others.
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21 responses to “Some Genius Tried Flying His DJI Phantom At The White House; Crashes It Into Obama’s Lawn”
It’s not Obama’s lawn, it’s public land. Believe it or not.
yeah man, its so public you can just walk right on it and tap on the windows.
“Public” probably isn’t the right word, but it is owned by the government, so it is technically correct.
It’s public land. It’s just not open to the public. Well, maybe parts of it aren’t.
this is not going to end well for the pilot if they ever find him/her
No charges were filed. Considering what he did, I’d say that was as good as it gets.
I wonder if it crashed, because of the White House security have some kind of jammer around the place to disable such intrusion….
Thats was what most people speculate, the latest report I read in the New York Times said it hit a tree–no word on whether it hit the tree because the guy didn’t know how to fly it or if the radio jammers caused him to lose control.
No, the White House has no such system and once again was caught by surprise. It is obvious this shall change.
Mista, mista, can I have my drone back?
Tony points out the obvious irrelevant information, and Tzetzi gotta make the racist remark. The Internet is now complete. Bravo boys, bravo.
I heard it was #RushLimbaugh …
It’s long over due. We have to get serious about about
security; not just at the White House, but our ports as
well. As of today, there is apparently nothing stopping
someone from attaching a small bomb to a drone and
flying it into the West Wing. Or, for that matter, even a
small plane. Ditto our ports; a small dirty nuclear device
could be transported via a private 47 foot sail boat and
piloted to any location on our coastline.
Exactly, ban them all! UHauls can be used to transport bombs, put them out of business too. And the internal unit of a microwave can be used to detonate a fertilizer bomb, so ban microwaves before it’s too late! And matches light fuses!! We must be proactive!
No, the simple answer is to set up an electronic “fence” around sensitive areas. OK, your cell phone reception will be shot, but that is a small price to pay.
please stop calling quad copters drones!
the tinfoil hats are out in force today…
DEBKA chided the White House security yesterday: http://www.debka.com/article/24363/Outdated-White-House-defenses-no-match-for-intruding-drone-An-electronic-fence-is-lacking
drink and fly? not a good idea in general, especially by the big white house, duh.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/27/white-house-drone-drinking_n_6556474.html
It didn’t crash, it was white house security technology that used an emp ;)
That’s an expensive lesson. Word is he was drunk at the time, which explains trying to fly a quad at the White House.