Caught on camera, multirotor crashes into crowd at Great Bull Run

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VTG

VTG

Member
.
More bad publicity for the UAV / RCAP community.

Last week was the epic "wedding groom" fail ... this week it's the "Bull Run" fail ... and this one could have been much worse!

http://wtvr.com/2013/08/24/watch-dro...reat-bull-run/

I hope the person who got hit is ok.

As previously pointed out on this forum, this kind of irresponsible flying (directly above a crowd) is dangerous and will bring a great deal of scrutiny (and future regulations) upon those who do fly responsibly.

.
 
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G

Ghostrider

Member
I wonder how many more of these incidents it will take before there is some kind of response from the FAA or law enforcement. It is so easy to get too comfortable with your equipment and start flying as if they won't fail, but as many of us have learned, myself included, these multirotors fail all too often. You can flying these aircraft 25, 50, 100 times with no problem, and then, without warning it falls out of the sky. This pilot should never have been flying directly over the crowd.

This community really needs to make a push to improve safety. There should really be a push to investigate crashes and find the cause so that we can improve reliability. More importantly, we need to emphasize on these forums that pilots should absolutely not fly over people.

After my experiences and watching others, I find myself looking for airframes with more redundancy and re-thinking the environments I will fly in. Hopefully we will all learn from events like this one.
 


SMP

SMP

Member
There you go;

He said the FAA became aware that the Drone Journalism Lab was using miniature helicopters outdoors without a permit after seeing a video Waite posted on YouTube. The October 2012 video — shot by the Drone Journalism Lab and the UNL NIMBUS Lab — showed the drought-stricken Platte River
 

ChrisViperM

ChrisViperM

Active Member
Stacky said:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveparrish/9584663017/in/set-72157635213626165
Click to expand...

Apperantely Dave Parrish was only hired to take ground-shots and took some pictures of the bird and the "pilots"......

There is another one:

View attachment 13381


2 things are interesting on this SkyJib: It's got a "professional" Wookong system, and the cable/wire-mess is the worst I have ever seen.......great formula for disaster

There is a thread about this on the Freefly Forum:
http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/drone-crash-into-crowd-at-bull-run-in-va.2037/

Chris
 

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DennyR

Active Member
You could have put a Phantom up there and very little risk of anyone getting hurt. Not that the people there would care much about that. The shots that he could have got with that thing would have been no better if the operator knew what he was doing. Another example of male jewelry put to the wrong use. Putting that amount of weight in the air is a waste of money and shows a total lack of understanding of what is going on.
 

T

tstrike

pendejo grande
Brand new kit lens too, prolly still has that new lens smell. Reading that other forum sounds like these guys came in at the last minute and underbid the first guy. I imagine these events would get cold calls from newbz embolden with confidence and a chance to get their foot in the door. Unfortunate for all involved but this is an example of why rules and safety organizations won't work. There is always someone standing behind you with a lower bid, there is always someone hungrier than you that will take the work. The only karma to this is that there is always someone standing behind him with a lower bid...




and what the hell is that blue airhose looking thing snaking around the gimbal?
 
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SMP

SMP

Member
Welcome to Digital Thunderdome. We are a multi-faucted company that offers high end video production of all kinds. We now are equipped with RED Epic capabilities and Aerial Drone services as well. ​
 



I

ianc212

Member
These incidents are only going to get more frequent . I attended a World Championship motorpsort event yesterday and someone , paid by the promoters, was hovering an S800 about 20ft above about 600 people ! Thats in the UK where apparently the CAA are clamping down.
A guy I know saw me flying mine recently and went out last week and spent £2500 on a set up- then phoned me because he couldnt get the rotors to spin up. It was a DJI550 with gimbal, GPs etc and he didnt know the start up system for DJI`s. He said he needed to get it sorted by the weekend as he was planning on filming at a motorbike event in Austria a few days later !
 
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R

R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer
And again it's DJI. Why am I not surprised. I'm not sure if it's a problem with DJI's technology per se, or just because they spend so much on marketing they are the defacto plug-and-play outfit.

I wonder if this was again caused by GPS loss. I'm hearing a lot of cases where people flying DJI fly in GPS ATTI 100% of the time, and can't fly without it at all.

I was trying to use GPS for (road) navigation on the weekend and noticed it seemed to be having a TERRIBLE time getting a lock. I think there might be some really bad solar storms going on right now.
 

maxwelltub

maxwelltub

Member
Looks like a motor or esc problem, I never used GPS much anyway, except to scratch my nose or put my shades on. I can't see how stadiums or events venues let someone fly over people like this!
 

D

Dewster

Member
It never ends...

You develop confidence in these ships when they fly like they should. Each successful flight lowers your fear factor and then that day comes when your ship drops from the sky:

http://youtu.be/DaCp1USGAGM

There are many reasons....and the result is the same: Newton's law.
 
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Efliernz

Efliernz

Pete
Unfortunately many of the multi pre-built suppliers are selling the DJI systems to newbz because "it's so easy".

A small story...
I am helping a guy at the moment who approached DW here in NZ and (already a full-time photo and video pro) stated what he wanted to do (and carry - 7D etc). He contacted me and asked for help after he had already spent the $$$ on the DW recommended setup - a 7Kg SJ Ti Hexa, DX7S...
I built him a basic KK2 trainer (a basic 550mm wood-arm carbon core quad) while he assembled the DW and he learnt to fly in manual mode and progressed really well. When he shared a quad video to DW, they were amazed with has standard but couldn't understand why he was flying in manual mode... "why bother to fly manual when the Naza (yes they recommended a Naza V1 on a "Pro-level SJ6) does it for you".

This automatic stabilized flying technique being promoted by the big guys is negligent in my opinion - especially when the way to try and stop the "DJI wobble" is flicking to manual mode. Half the pilots out there aren't even enabling manual-mode at all. Just stupid!

Rant over... ;)

Pete
 

Bowley

Bowley

Member
ianc212 said:
These incidents are only going to get more frequent . I attended a World Championship motorpsort event yesterday and someone , paid by the promoters, was hovering an S800 about 20ft above about 600 people ! Thats in the UK where apparently the CAA are clamping down.
A guy I know saw me flying mine recently and went out last week and spent £2500 on a set up- then phoned me because he couldnt get the rotors to spin up. It was a DJI550 with gimbal, GPs etc and he didnt know the start up system for DJI`s. He said he needed to get it sorted by the weekend as he was planning on filming at a motorbike event in Austria a few days later !
Click to expand...

I was chatting to a guy the other day and after seeing my rig he told me about a chap with one of these 'hovercraft' gadgets who was filming some kinda rally and he was really impressed that he launched it, climbed to height, pushed a switch and went for a cup of tea and left it there recording the action below.
 

T

Teamflail

Member
Has anyone been a member or dealt with the AMA, in regards to multi-rotor aircraft? I am curious as it would seem a group helping to push safety, professionalism and knowledge would do our group well. For pilots of actual aircraft, there is the AOPA (Aircraft Owner's and Pilot Association). They are a very professional and effective organization. When some idiot does something dangerous or there is a huge mis-perception in public opinion, they immediately begin sending out information that is factual and positive. They have a done a phenomenal job lobbying for pilots in D.C. Not saying the AOPA is for us but something along those lines where people who join would follow a guideline or rules agreed upon by the members. That way when you advertise your services, you can state you are a member, follow the rules, etc. Now I know people can say they are a member or a potential client, etc. may not even validate their credentials, but having something like this in place would give a single and powerful voice to organizations, like the FAA, which does not probably have one idea about our community and how we operate. Like the case of this guy, his membership would be revoked and even possible cooperation with the FAA to show he was not operating by the rules governing the members. Not looking to throw anyone under the bus but our fellow members would help police the community in a professional manner.

Any thoughts or am I just missing the whole thing that something like this exists. Please add your 2 cents.
 

W

W5HYN

Member
Teamflail said:
Has anyone been a member or dealt with the AMA, in regards to multi-rotor aircraft? I am curious as it would seem a group helping to push safety, professionalism and knowledge would do our group well. For pilots of actual aircraft, there is the AOPA (Aircraft Owner's and Pilot Association). They are a very professional and effective organization. When some idiot does something dangerous or there is a huge mis-perception in public opinion, they immediately begin sending out information that is factual and positive. They have a done a phenomenal job lobbying for pilots in D.C. Not saying the AOPA is for us but something along those lines where people who join would follow a guideline or rules agreed upon by the members. That way when you advertise your services, you can state you are a member, follow the rules, etc. Now I know people can say they are a member or a potential client, etc. may not even validate their credentials, but having something like this in place would give a single and powerful voice to organizations, like the FAA, which does not probably have one idea about our community and how we operate. Like the case of this guy, his membership would be revoked and even possible cooperation with the FAA to show he was not operating by the rules governing the members. Not looking to throw anyone under the bus but our fellow members would help police the community in a professional manner.

Any thoughts or am I just missing the whole thing that something like this exists. Please add your 2 cents.
Click to expand...

I am a member of AMA. Not aware of any specific references to Multi rotors. However AMA has a detailed safety code on their web site and I suspect most multi rotor enthusiasts would be appalled. It emphasizes, "do not fly any aircraft over people," and encourages flying at an AMA sanctioned field where safety measures have been established. When flying anywhere there should be a flight line established beyond which only pilots are allowed. I doubt many multi pilots would be interested in following these simple guidelines for safety. Since many multi pilots are interested in photography they would not be interested in an AMA field - nothing but open fields. I guess the nature of the beast makes people take chances to find interesting photography subjects or just to show off.
 

D

DennyR

Active Member
The common denominator here is that eventually these things can for a great many reasons drop out of the sky. So after many years of developing aerial platforms I have reached the conclusion that the heavier they are the greater the risk of failure and the more the chance of someone getting hurt. If I said to you guys, what if you could have a very small quad (smaller than a Phantom) that can fly for 20 mins and shoot better stills and video than most DSLRs, also have a 20x zoom function and weigh less that 1000 grams would that not make a lot more sense than this inevitable road to self destruction of this as an industry. It does exist and what is more I have one that has already entered service. A long time ago I was banging on about the superior flight stabilization of small quads. You only have to watch the TED TALKS videos to see what I mean. The reliability of the small light machine is proven beyond doubt. What has held it back was the lack of smaller cameras that could deliver.
 


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