Just curious as to what you consider to windy to fly, or what your comfort zones are. New England can be pretty windy...today gusting in the high teens to low twenties...many days like this. Flags are flapping straight out, tree tops swaying from time to time. What do you consider acceptable conditions.
As for me, 10-15mph is about all I'm comfortable with for filming. Anything more than that and the video is usually too bumpy. Stills are another story, as I can usually dial in a fast enough shutter speed (1/1000) to negate all but the most violent movements. But this guy seemed unafraid of not only winds that grounded the fire copters and planes, but the fires themselves. Watch this!
And this is an example of stupid behavior. Best I can tell the locations he flew are in a TFR, ground to 5000 feet to support the airtankers. One incident can really put the hurt on our hobby and business. FDC 3/6770 - CA.. FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS NEWBURY PARK, CA. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 91.137(A)(2) TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS ARE IN EFFECT WITHIN A 5 NAUTICAL MILE RADIUS OF 340733N/1190041W OR THE VENTURA /VTU/ VOR/DME 56.0 DEGREE RADIAL AT 2.0 NAUTICAL MILES AT AND BELOW 5000 FEET MSL TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR FIRE FIGHTING. VENTURA COUNTY FIRE TELEPHONE 805-388-4279 OR FREQ 119.225/SPRINGS FIRE IS IN CHARGE OF THE OPERATION. LOS ANGELES /ZLA/ ARTCC TELEPHONE 661-265-8205 IS THE FAA COORDINATION FACILITY. WIE UNTIL UFN. CREATED: 03 MAY 10:29 2013
Not to mention that there OSD showed a continuous climb through 460 feet before they faded to a different scene. On a side note I am impressed that that their 550 handled that without falling out of the sky. Mine would have crashed I am pretty sure. They must have been using 4S batteries and better ESC's then mine