Safety?

[outthayr]

What are some of ya'lls thoughts on safe/responsible flying? US/Canada have pretty clear rules about what they think is safe. Some of the rules reach a little far, but I think most are within bounds of reason.

I always cringe a little when I see a Team Black Sheep video diving in a city. There was a recent video of a pilot cruising over a crowded beach. Someone commented on the unsafe nature of the beach video, and they were ridiculed by the masses - the poster said something like, 'calm down, I did a test flight. Learn to fly and then make comments, bro!'. There are pretty clear outlines in aviation about the 'it won't happen to me attitude'. I personally wouldn't fly over a crowded beach with anything more than a micro-drone with prop guards - and I would still avoid going over and near strangers. I'd feel uncomfortable having a random pilot buzzing me and my loved ones with a 5" flying weedwhacker.

My career has been working stunts for film and TV. We don't plan for the 99% of the time things go right, we plan a stunt out for the 1% chance it can go wrong.

 

[b-29er]

The FAA looks at these videos and says "hmm, we need a new rule". Because Alphabet and Amazon arent lobbying hard enough for airspace control. You're flying an amalgamation of foam, carbon fiber, fast spinning propellers and batteries that can in unlikely circumstances catch fire. People have died from flying these things at correct locations, the risk multiplies in towns, over crowds, etc. If you aren't flying in a location that minimizes risk to at least people, if not structures and property, maybe you should stop flying for a bit and consider your life choices.

 

[PsyBorg]

I'm kinda split on this topic. I know we need rules and have always had them. So on one hand I am against flying near people in an unsafe manor. On the other hand I fly quads and I KNOW what they can do.

Quads are not like planes. Yes they CAN be more dangerous but they are also way more safe. I know my gear can fly at close to 150 mph. I also know I can stop it near on a dime unlike a plane that has to divert its path or if total control is lost glide until it loses energy or impact. Even with a fail safe condition multi rotors drop the left rear motor prior to the other three which diverts most of its energy backwards and stops momentum in a very short time.

You also have to factor in the rules were made back when RC gear was unreliable and in early development and have not been changed since. Even the most hard core fixed wing balsa snob AMA guys have to admit the gear we fly with today is thousands percent better and safer.

Again I am not advocating "stupid" but by the time most pilots are willing to risk their gear doing dives and such they already have skills far beyond what you imagine it takes to fly a "drone". We ALL for the most part and more so then any fixed wing pilots I know actively and consciously mitigate risks.

Take for instance that whole whoopla over the Rotor Riot Bridge dive. Yes it was near moving cars on the bridge but it was a closed set around the bridge with spotters and security. The flight was NEVER moving towards where the cars were and had the huge support between the quad and the cars so if impact or failsafe happened the quad would be going away from the cars.

Next you have to look at each instance from a legal aspect. Is the person doing the dive just an idiot or are they part 107 pilots that have permission to legally do it for what ever reason and have all the proper documents and safety materials in place saying so. you cant tell that on a you tube video. You also cant tell if there were extra people in the area doing crowd control, nor would you know if the people they fly over have signed waivers, are paid extras or have or have not been notified of what the pilot is doing.

Even as a pilot I am against that whole "Long range" thing be it fixed wing or multi rotor. I know for the most part they have studied what they do like everyone else and have done their best to mitigate safety issues so I stay out of that fight. Remember any pilot that walks out to fly the first time without knowledge of safe operation, control, and skill loses their craft nearly instantly. Its not like people doing building dives are first time pilots.

Dont just ride the "drones are Bahhd" bus.

And yes the new laws are about safety but they are giving permission to delivery companies to break EVERY rule of flying we ever regulated ourselves with since inception so that dog wont hunt any more. It gives new meaning to "do as I say not as I do" from the people regulating us.

@outthayr MUCH respect for you mate. Your profession is a dangerous one and deserves the level of attention you must take to keep safe and yet do the job. Its no different every time we fly a quad just on a much smaller scale even if it seems we dont go to the level you HAVE to take mitigating damage or injury.

 

[outthayr]

Before I started piloting, we had an Inspire 2 operator on a film project - doing some fly-bys and aerial coverage of a car chase scene. Two ops on the drone, pilot and gimbal controller. During one opposing direction fly-by the pilot misjudged distance, and maybe had some lag, he clipped the top of a roof and lost a prop - caused the drone to take a dive directly into the windscreen of our oncoming hero vehicle, luckily driven by and occupied with stunt performers. Their awareness in the split seconds before the drone hit the window was enough to slow the truck and guard their eyes from the fine glass that exploded into the cab. Just an example of shit going wrong when everyone was expecting it to go right. Test flights, professional operator, everyone on the ground being aware of the flight, etc.

 

[PsyBorg]

My guess would be that the operator had over rode fail safe features and tried to recover from the mishap rather then let the gear do what it should and fall. It is understandable why with all the expensive gear like that specially with the type of camera gear used for filming movies.

That is something totally different from the average person flying free style who would be the ones doing building dives that you originally posted about. They wouldn't be doing a building dive with a 20 thousand dollar camera mounted to a 15 thousand dollar multi rotor. At least if they were smart anyways.. but movie budgets are again far different from a hobbyist budget.