[NSRCA-discussion] The Moment A World Cup Skier Was Nearly Hit By A Drone Falling Out Of The Sky

Thu Dec 24 08:27:58 AKST 2015

I would bet that a strong portion of the “DRONE – multi-rotor” flyers couldn’t fly their machine in the manual mode, no self leveling or autonomous or GPS mode.
What do they do when the machine is programed wrong or settings change unexpectedly.
An example is of a guy down in the valley with very little experience sets up his drones GPS at home... goes to a place to fly 5 miles away.
Gets the unit in the air and it suddenly heads south at full speed... towards his house never to be seen again.  Now where do you suppose it crashed when it ran out of battery power? 
He was very close to the Mexican border. You think maybe the Border Patrol may think it’s an intrusion from across the border if they found it?
He then had the nerve to have his credit card company stop payment to the dealer for what he thought was a defective product.  
Dealer wins out since there is no product to inspect, there is no way to observe a defect.
Bad news would have been if it crashed into someone or a vehicle on the road.

Perhaps FAA should require all “DRONE” (autonomous & GPS) flyers to be able to exhibit full control in manual mode. (No man power to do that, right)
I bet that “Experienced pro with 3000hrs” flies in GPS or self leveling mode all the time.

This discussion needs to be focused on the rogue fliers... not the sanctioned flying AMA membership.  How to do stop a freight train delivering millions of these to inexperienced fliers?
Good for the suppliers bad for the main contingent. 

Wayne

From: Jon Lowe via NSRCA-discussion 
Sent: Thursday, December 24, 2015 9:29 AM
To: nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org 
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] The Moment A World Cup Skier Was Nearly Hit By A Drone Falling Out Of The Sky

The problem with these drones is that they take no skill to fly, or knowledge of what makes them tick to operate them. Coupled with multiple single point failure paths that can make them come down like a ton of bricks, makes for a potentially lethal combination.  Then, add in the idiot factor, and...

Jon

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On Thursday, December 24, 2015 S. McNickle via NSRCA-discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> wrote:

I was at the Memorial Day NASCAR race in Charlotte a few years ago when the cable for the overhead traveling camera broke and fell down across parts of the grandstand and the track.  NASCAR discontinued use of that kind of camera.
The AMA rules about flying over crowds aren't just because of the possibility of pilot error, the even the best pilots are unable to recover from certain mechanical and electrical failures.  I think the commercial media drone people need to learn this lesson.

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From: "Paul Lukas via NSRCA-discussion" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
To: "General pattern discussion" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 24, 2015 10:03:44 AM
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] The Moment A World Cup Skier Was Nearly Hit        By A Drone Falling Out Of The Sky

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Govt Video Expo and “National Drone Show”.  While walking around the drone booths, I got into a conversation with a gentleman who was advertising his services and explaining how a video drone can be used by a tower crane operator to do inspections.  The guy from the construction company was enthralled.  I jumped into the conversation and mentioned that the construction site under the crane would have to be cleared of workers to allow safe operation of the drone.  The pitchman was insistent that it was not necessary.  I got into a long conversation with him about safe operation and use.  He ended the conversation by saying how he has 3,000 hours experience flying the drones, he is an experienced drone pilot, and he can fly a drone just 5 feet over the heads of kids at a skateboard park.  I called him irresponsible and walked away shaking my head.

It’s not just the rogue operators, but professionals that think they are too good for anything to go wrong.  Watching that video clip of the skier, it seems to me that the drone came straight down.  It should never have been flying directly over the race course, but off to the side away from spectators and athletes as well.

Does anyone remember the cable camera that came down on the field in the middle of a NFL game?  Almost hit a player if I remember.  Anything hanging or hovering can come down unexpectedly at any moment.

Paul

From: NSRCA-discussion [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org?] On Behalf Of John Gayer via NSRCA-discussion
Sent: Thursday, December 24, 2015 12:22 AM
To: General pattern discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] The Moment A World Cup Skier Was Nearly Hit By A Drone Falling Out Of The Sky

This was a commercial operation by the video provider of the race in Italy using a 22 pound drone. It was fully authorized by the FIS which puts on world cup races. 

That takes this incident completely out of the realm of the rogue hobbyist. Of course the FAA might use the incident to further delay their commercial drone regulations.

On 12/23/2015 7:55 PM, Keith Hoard via NSRCA-discussion wrote:

  I do believe this was a “bite the pillow and enjoy the sting” moment.

  <sigh>

  (slinking off to get my registration number)

  http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/22/the-moment-a-world-cup-skier-was-nearly-hit-by-a-drone-falling-out-of-the-sky/

  --Keith Hoard
  --klhoard at outlook.com

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