Quads and RC Planes can easily reach altitudes of 11k feet+. However, most Radio Systems and Video transmission systems can not throw a link that far. Some peop

Quads and RC Planes can easily reach altitudes of 11k feet+. However, most Radio Systems and Video transmission systems can not throw a link that far. Some people can get as much as 17 miles with UHF radios, but those operate in the 400Mhz range, which, I would assume, would be very busy with all the radio traffic from fire fighters and other first responders around that area right now. Of course it could be a fully autonomous system, which makes it all the more dangerous. Overall, if I had to guess, I would say this is just bad reporting on LA times part. The drone was probably well over 1,000 feet in the air, but more than likely the hight reported was from sea level, not ground level.