Last I read on another forum had DJI putting over 100,000 RTF's up in the U.S. over the last couple years. Toss in Yuneec, Hangar 9, Walkera, 3D Robotics, and a lot of smaller stuff and that number probably more than doubles. This last Christmas season had Amazon alone moving well over 10,000 RTF camera drones of all makes.
I have to agree with any statement that suggests more acts of stupidity are performed by RTF camera drones because there are more of them, but that statement does not go far enough in defining the problem. The entire marketing strategy behind RTF camera drones is designed to pander to the uneducated, uninformed, and those lacking any ability. Much of the marketing sets the stage for "impulse buying" at places like Best Buy where everyone walking by gets taken in by the "anyone can fly it" advertising. The verse makes plain that you don't need to have experience, or do anything more than charge the batteries and fly, then instantly take breath taking aerial videos and photographs of your favorite subjects. Hell, there's now a whole new class of "selfie" drones for people whose vanity is limitless.
None of these offerings include any real flight safety information, virtually nothing links people to AMA or FAA safety guidelines, there's little if any information about airspace and where full scale flies, and manufacturer imposed FC limiters for flights around controlled airspace are both inaccurate and inadequate. So what do people do? Exactly what the manufacturers producing the RTF's want them to do, run out, toss their new toy in the air, and watch the carnage unfold. Some of the dumbest chit I've ever seen is plastered, in multiples of multiples, all over You Tube from people flying RTF camera drones. It gets even worse when you see the multitude of posts from buyers of new camera and selfie drones seeking a means to extend their BLOS FPV range, with no thought of the people and property they will be flying over, or any consideration given to failures that are much too common with some flight controllers that cause fly aways and dive for the ground incidents.
If you can't tell, I do not view the mass marketing of this stuff favorably. Those that take the time to learn enough about what we fly to build their own have more invested, if not economically, at least mentally. Most that build their own take time to learn how to operate their creations to limit damage and loss of their investments in time and money. They research what works and what doesn't, what is reliable and what isn't. So IMO the RTF camera/selfie drone market is pre-disposed to do stupid and reckless things and the makers depend on that in order to increase market share and profitability. Short version has makers not giving a damn about public safety, only the size of their bank accounts.
