Commercial drone operator reported observing a drone operating in the approach path of pdk airport a...

Narrative:

At the airport in chamblee; GA; I observed then videoed a person flying a what appeared to be an older model white dji phantom drone above tree top level in a small open area 850ft from the 'charley' helicopter pad (287 degrees magnetic from the pad) and about 500 ft from the approach path of runway 16 at peachtree dekalb airport pdk. The runway was active and in use by landing aircraft. A student pilot practicing in an R22 flew past the drone while landing on runway 16 and apparently did not see it. I reported the drone activity to the tower at pdk by telephone and they were unaware of the drone activity and could not see it from the tower. The airport police were also notified when it was clear the person did not have permission to operate where he was flying. An R44 helicopter was also flying over the area and didn't see the drone. This was also a training flight. I spoke to both pilots and neither saw the drone. The helicopter was also off the charlie helicopter pad. The fact the drone could not be seen by the pilots in the air is what makes this activity so extremely dangerous this close to an airport.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Commercial drone operator reported observing a drone operating in the approach path of PDK airport and causing traffic conflict with aircraft. Tower was notified and made aware of the drone's location.

Narrative: At the airport in Chamblee; GA; I observed then videoed a person flying a what appeared to be an older model white DJI Phantom drone above tree top level in a small open area 850ft from the 'Charley' helicopter pad (287 degrees magnetic from the pad) and about 500 ft from the approach path of Runway 16 at Peachtree Dekalb Airport PDK. The runway was active and in use by landing aircraft. A student pilot practicing in an R22 flew past the drone while landing on Runway 16 and apparently did not see it. I reported the drone activity to the Tower at PDK by telephone and they were unaware of the drone activity and could not see it from the Tower. The airport police were also notified when it was clear the person did not have permission to operate where he was flying. An R44 Helicopter was also flying over the area and didn't see the drone. This was also a training flight. I spoke to both pilots and neither saw the drone. The helicopter was also off the Charlie helicopter pad. The fact the drone could not be seen by the pilots in the air is what makes this activity so extremely dangerous this close to an airport.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1728213
Time
Date	202002
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	PDK.Airport
State Reference	GA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	UAV - Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle
Flight Phase	Cruise
Person 1
Function	Other / Unknown
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Rotorcraft Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Commercial
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR

Commercial drone operator reported observing a drone operating in the approach path of pdk airport and causing traffic conflict with aircraft. Tower was notified and made aware of the drone's location.