We’ve seen various methods of dealing with drones, including bigger drones with nets, special shotgun shells, bazookas, futuristic jammer guns, and even specially-trained eagles. A surfing event in Hawaii took a different approach: as seen in the video above, it knocked a drone out of the air using a helicopter.



“Like most sporting organizations the World Surf League (WSL) has been known to be quite protective in terms of its intellectual property rights,” tipster Andrew Grose tells PetaPixel. “This is especially with regard to its copyright laws, making professional filming or photographing within contest areas almost impossible unless directly contracted by the WSL.”

So when an unauthorized drone was caught flying directly over the contest area at the WSL big wave event at Jaws in Peahi, Hawaii, last year, the staff went to great lengths to stop it.

A number of Safety Water Patrol staffers were called in, and they began throwing swim fins and other objects up at the DJI Mavic from below.

When that failed to down the drone, a helicopter was called in. Swooping down toward the drone, the helicopter used its powerful downwash to blast the drone down into the Pacific Ocean.

“While some might argue that the drone operator was within the law to fly their drone in a public place, more responsible drone operators would be quick to point out the dangers associated with flying a drone directly over people as well as within close proximity to other larger aircraft such as a Helicopter in this instance,” Grose says.

Image credits: Video by Rory Parker