Because I-15 isn’t there anymore.
Not really, but there is a majorfire raging through the Cajon Pass and the 15 South is closed until further notice. They estimate tomorrow, maybe. North is down to 2 lanes and moving very slowly, of course. If you have dinner reservations, you aren’t going to make them. Turn around and fly instead.
For a moment there I thought you were going to report a sudden downpour had made part of the hillside just slide away taking the interstate with it… but holy combustion Batman, that’s one helluva mess!
The “fun” part was watching abandoned cars catch on fire as the flames leaped the southbound lanes. The insurance companies are going to have fun with this one.
Actually, there are a couple of Dopers who I wouldn’t mind… 
Someone help me with the geography here, as the New Google Maps doesn’t work on my machine. Where exactly is Cajon Pass? Is it sort of between San Bernardino and Victorville?
Could a Las-Vegas-bound driver circumvent it by driving up Los Angeles into the San Fernando Valley and then taking Highway 14 out to Palmdale and then to Victorville from there?
Yes and yes. They were routing people either through Lancaster/Palmdale or telling people to head down the river from Vegas to I-40.
Cal-Trans is really on the job, because the Sigalert map this morning shows traffic moving through the pass both ways at a pretty good speed.
That is one hellava long detour. Faced with that option, I’d get a hotel or go back home and try again the next day.
So, were those drones the ones bringing us the exciting footage of burning vehicles on I-15? If not, are they at least able to find out who sent them?
Today, Tropical Storm Dolores is bringing thunderstorms with lightening to the area. Can’t figure out if that’s good or bad. . . .
I started a new thread in IMHO on this specific topic, in which I ask the questions:
(1) How is this possibly legal?
(2) How do they find the drone operators to tell them to knock it off (and why aren’t they arresting their asses)?
Why can’t they just ignore the drones? I’m sure the whirlwind from a helicopter’s blades will blow away any commercial drone that gets within 50 feet of a helicopter
[ul][li]A head-on collision could break the windshield and injure/kill/incapacitate a pilot, as well as obviously degrading visibility.[/li][li]If the drone hits the tail rotor, it can cause a tail rotor failure resulting in an immediate (and hopefully successful) autorotation into whatever terrain/conditions exist below.[/li][li]A main rotor strike probably wouldn’t cause a helicopter the size they’re using to crash, but it would result in an immediate abortion of the mission.[/li]Distractions cannot always be ignored.[/ul]
[quote=“Johnny_L.A, post:12, topic:725472”]
[ul][li]If the drone hits the tail rotor, it can cause a tail rotor failure resulting in an immediate (and hopefully successful) autorotation into whatever terrain/conditions exist below.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
The terrian/conditions existing below consisting of raging wildfire (in the scenario of this thread). Safe and successful landing improbable.
I would consider it suboptimal.
Any rain in SoCal is good. It rained on and off today with lots of lightning and thunder.
CalFire has been in the news this week for other fire situations asking people to please not fly drones into the air space over active fires. They hold the aircraft, including the fire suppression units.
I believe they’re considering legislation about drones now, but I’ve only heard them talking about things that already have protected or restricted air space. In other words, if you can’t fly a plane in the air space, the law would change to include drones. For example, the Golden Gate Bridge has been mentioned as protected air space. I would think that the area over an active wildfire would be restricted, etc.
As far as how you actually enforce that, I don’t know. Maybe folks are going to get their drones shot down. Not sure you can track ownership. Does anyone know if they have GPS or other tracking in them?