News Article - Two People Hurt

MombasaFlash

Heli's & Tele's bloke
Could this not have totally been pilot error? Accidently hit the left stick? Perhaps the FC had nothing todo with it. Funny that isn't a possibility??? Everyone reading this knows how easy that can happen.

Well, we all know that 95% of mishaps are down to pilot error and yes, shame this got into the news because the authorities are already bearing down, even without adverse publicity.
 

R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer
This is interesting however, I thought the law was yet to actually be passed??

No, this quote is complete BS. Nice fact checking by the journalists. Do any of them do their job anymore?

I am having a real hard time getting my head around the laws, but best I can tell, is that it is currently "not legal", and the FAA specifically says it is "not allowed". However, there are either no criminal penalties, or they are not being enforced, and thus some people are going ahead and doing this.

I find the SRH guys have a completely different perspective than the MR guys. The SRH guys are absolutely in business doing this. I think it's because they started doing this before the idea of UAV's really got going. They were simply hanging cameras on their RC helicopters. No big deal right? Well, when the whole UAV/MR thing got going, I think they didn't want to stop, and have just adopted this thinking that "if nobody is getting arrested, it's not illegal". Fact is, lots of people are doing it.
 


3dheliguy

Member
Yeah lol, man you got to file those props those Graups are sharp Boy!! He should just run DJI props so when he hits himself they will just break apart leaving him unhurt. I heard there going to make foam props... Those might be a good option for him.

Well I don't want to make fun as I guess this can happen to any of us, but I will tell ya if this happened to me you would never here about it that's for sure.
 

kloner

Aerial DP
i got hit and wasn't anyplace near it, came at me from 30 feet, it was there as fast as i dove, bounced of my head and neck, didn't get cut and had graupners...... i'll see if i got the video still..... Dragonlink tried to kill me
 


kloner

Aerial DP
this POS
http://www.dragonlinkstore.com/v2/

it was a fpv quad....... still lookin for the tape, it's from onboard, the quad hopped up in this state dragonlink loved to show from time to time with a jr radio, it was like it had two ppm sums going intermitent so if you touched a stick, it went there till the next input, well the dam thing hopped up, i heard it and touched the cyclic, so a second after inputting command it took it, leaned straight at me and stuck there a couple seconds. Weirdest thing you've ever seen and the most dangerous thing int his hobby i've ever encountered. It shook me up and i had a hard time using the thing, had to sell it.

Tape shows it pitch up, bounce off something then it lands upside down and you see me on the ground with a tx in my hand like a drunk fell with a beer,,,,,,,,, first thing i did was give the kneck a swipe to look for the red stuff,,,,, i was clean, had my wife check me over, was so in shock i swore the dam thing got me.

I got attacked by a 600 heli too. I'm one of them guys that has alot of luck, problem is it's not always good luck. A simple motorcycle accident ripped my foot off, stuff like that.
 

3dheliguy

Member
Rofl! Damn dude that's crazy, awe man I had that once with a Walkera helicopter when I first got started, it was like when you gave it stick input it took 5 to 10 seconds before the input was read by the receiver, meanwhile the thing is flying off.
 

kloner

Aerial DP
oh this isn't my only bit of fun in the learning curve. You know, this really is a dangerous gig we play. Sometimes i forget that, but I was hanging at a heli forum and a guy was having a trex 500 act strange, like it'd loose signal, but it didn't failsafe, kinda went away, he'd get it back. We told him to take the blades off, well a week later he came back and that 500 went up at him and he had his face straight over it. He went through a few surgeries, i don't know if the vision ever came back. We all felt so bad we bought him a new heli as a group. It was the worst thing i've seen on a forum i was a part of.

Anyhow, heres my venture,,, it's not quite as impressive as i remembered, but this was it,,,,,,, i got really used to feeling safe around this thing, then this happened

when i first got into big electric helis, this was my first jump from a 500 to a 600. Got some new servos in the mail, put em on and it was dark so i set it on my porch like always, stood at my front door and spooled it up. Next thing i know that thing was coming at me with 600mm blades spinnin all 2000 rpm straight at my face, again i dove for the ground, but kinda fell back into the door at the same time, blew the door jam off at the handle, and came rolling into my house with a 600 on my chest that i quickly threw off then noticed was on fire. the esc blew up and stopped the blades, thank god. this was that fiasco

i just went outside and shot these. Thats the porch you see that camera guarding, that's what it did to the screen door, steel security screen door. I had a burn on my chest from the esc that was glowing
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anybody that thinks these are toys is sorely mistaken. I compare this to a motorcycle, it's not a matter of if but when...... and it's usually not you that's tryin to get ya, it's all the variables in the mix that make this happen sometimes just don't do what you think there gonna. I started rc with cars when i was 10 in 1980 then got into flying signle rotor helis in 1993 and played with them on and off the whole time. it wasn't till brushless and lipo came a term in the industry that i really got hooked. Nitro and i don't get along real well and that's all there was forever
 
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shsober

Member
The AMA safety rules should be guiding people. I haven't heard anyone mention the Academy of Model Aeronautics, an American group. They are trying to get Congress to prevent the FAA from making rules about aircraft flown under the jurisdiction of a nationally recognized group with safety rules. I have thought long and hard about the liability issues and about how AP gets done at all. Is insurance available?

I was very active in RC sailplane competition in the '80's. Even then, with strict radio frequency controls and detailed attention to areas for the public, pits and other precautions, there was always some idiot flying where they shouldn't. My wife was knocked to the ground by a jerk piloting a cross country ship with about a 15 foot wingpsan.

Safety can't be overemphasized.
 

kloner

Aerial DP
when it's legal, you'll be able to insure it all. Now it'd be riders on your home owners like cameras and anything else above and beyond normal household items

I've been an ama member since 1993, belong to two clubs. I got another thread going with a rant about the very thing. I as kloner went from Scale helicopters and 3d planes and every old man at the club lovin me to completely thrown off to the side and ridiculed, told to stay away and otherwise alienated as an FPV pilot. I never even done it there, but you get an event with a place to educate the public about it at an rc event and are told to stay away. That's just wrong.

Wheres the line between framing shots and being too far away and considered a nuisance to society? That's a good way to describe us i guess, were not outlaws, were not dangerous, were a nuisance at best. the general rc community needs to get over it. Having most clubs with so many old men is the problem, but we loose 2-3 a year in a club with 200 members, it won't be long for the generation that uses it to change and hopefuly so do there feelings about different RC sports than the exact one they want to do. Heck, even single rotor 3d guys ar treated the same way at my clubs. Sure they hog the runway, ever tried doing that crap off in the distance? Same with foamie 3d pilots. the old guys think that everything should get in a pattern at 300 feet up and do the whole 1 mile loop. Well your idea of fun sucks and bores the liven crap out of me......


How many guys into AP support the AMA not to fly at, just to throw the legislators money to help push this along?
 
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Kilby

Active Member
Having most clubs with so many old men is the problem...


I couldn't agree more, kloner. I've been to a few different clubs in my area, and the people that are active are just closed minded and have no desire to see new technologies come around their field. Even the heli guys get pushed to the side and have to fly in their own tiny area, if they are even allowed at all. TBH, I doubt that the AMA will ever attract the multirotor crowd at all. My money is riding on the MR folks coming up with their own clubs/organizations, or at least their own chapters under the AMA guidance.


-Terry
 

R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer
when it's legal, you'll be able to insure it all. Now it'd be riders on your home owners like cameras and anything else above and beyond normal household items

Very interesting that you say that. Check this thread from just two days ago!

http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=432742

T
hese guys are doing this, have established businesses, and even buy insurance for it. The whole thing is very hush-hush. One guy sent me a PM, I won't post it because it's private. But basically it seems like as long as nobody is getting arrested or fined, they don't consider it illegal. But it's really hard to even get them to even talk about it.

I haven't had any issues flying my quad or heli at the club. The club president and some of the other big members think it's interesting. Actually, they wanted me to use the quad to help them find the lost club trainer. It doesn't hurt that I don't "hog the runway", I tend to check with them, if somebody wants to fly a plane I'll work with them. They also have a dedicated area for hovering. Also doesn't hurt that there is only about 20 active members, so the field is not congested.

Your 600 heli video is terrifying! I already treat mine with great respect, I usually try to have something to stand behind, but I'll be even more careful now!

I try not to fly it in my back yard, but sometimes circumstances sort of require it. (right now my field is closed for hunting season!). But I won't do it if my neighbours are outside. Just on the weekend, some came out to watch, but I told them I'm sorry I can't fly it if they're outside.
 

sim_io

Member
That 600 heli is just awful, brings me memories back when i started with a 250, a small bird the size of a humming bird flew into the main rotor and was cleanly diced in half and the heli was still able to land. On the other hand the multirotors don't carry a lot of prop momentum to impale a limb but they can cut you up with its small blades, I could eat stake with a gaupner prop that's how sharp it is.
 

kloner

Aerial DP
When that guy at helifreak tries to file a claim and the faa is already making a move at the guy, he won't be left with a pot to piss in. Good luck mighty adveturer.... christ

Wonder if he knows Ignorance isn't gonna make a judge very happy........
 

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