Old Man
Active Member
Actually, they do. Using recent press releases of Scan Eagle activities, an <55lb aircraft with exceptional BLOS capability. At least 4 areas have been well represented thus far; SAR, pipeline and oil field inspection, rail way inspections, wild fire oversight, and marine mammal research. All of those things have been widely reported, to the point of media saturation. I should add the media has reported extremely favorably for them but generally negative for us. That's not good when taking a broad view of the industry. That unit, and others from people like Aerovironment, easily fall into the class of aircraft commonly viewed as "model aircraft". All of them can be operated visually and far beyond visual range. Most of the operations are being conducted at altitudes our multirotors can easily reach, and can provide video equal to or far superior to what we generate in many cases. Bear in mind that all of the companies that have developed and operate such aircraft have voiced their intent to capture a portion, or all, of the markets out MR's currently function in.
You used an extremely descriptive phase when you stated "to date". That's the problem, they have yet to achieve that claim to infamy-yet. It's coming and that such is true is easily discernible when reading user posts about rules and regulations on other forums, and viewing the constant posting of aerial videos filmed by such people at places like You Tube. A lot of MR users are not doing those that operate responsibly any favors. There actually have been a lot of accidents, some again widely reported in the media, but for the most part we've been lucky. They haven't managed to hit anyone and cause serious injury thus far. With the exception of the child's eye of course. There have been a couple of minor injuries to bystanders reported in various places around the world, but those have been relatively minor since they struck the bystanders on the top of their heads. The original video that initiated this thread established there was no safe "out" for the MR in use had anything unplanned happened. Never anticipate that any flight is going to go perfectly. Always have a plan in place to deal with what can go wrong. A good looking video is nice and promotes the company but that same video can easily establish proof of recklessness, as was the case with the original video, and generate decisions by potential clients not to use the aerial outfit due to lack of safety practices. It's a tough world out there and keeping track of all the angles is a difficult thing to do, but that's what a business owner takes on when they open their doors for customer revenue.
We can't allow ourselves to be blinded by personal desires and hopes for unfettered operation of our aircraft. We have to always look at the big picture and review not just how we might be impacted, but also how we might impact everything and everyone else. That's not being politically correct, it's being responsible. A bunch of kids playing softball in the street is a fun and innocent thing, right up until the ball goes through the window of a house that borders the street, or the windshield of a car in a driveway. The short view had the kids only having some innocent fun, the longer view established they didn't think things through before initiating their actions. We expect this from kids, but not from adults. Unfortunately too many of those participating in what we do are still mentally, if not also physically, children.
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