So it happened again, and it will continue to happen until people realize this technology is far from mature enough to be used for such tasks.
Aside from endangering peoples lives, the public opinion created from such incidents will be very damaging and contribute to overly restrictive UAV laws in the future.
Do not fly over people, especially crowds!
Original article with crash video:
http://www.ara.cat/viacatalana/Via-Catalana-Sagrada-Familia-assistents_3_994130598.html
English translation:
Comments
@Shawn: Yep, obeying own safety rules http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/safety-multicopter/ seems not to be their subject. The best part of that wiki is still "A large towel is your most important piece of safety equipment followed by a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit." (The Hitchhiker knows how useful towels are http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Towel)
Spectacular shots make the audience go wow, I wanna buy this. TBS showed how to do it. Talking about maximal safety measures (you can hear that tbs guy all the time doing that blabla talk) during those video shots is so rediculous because they omitt the biggest thing about safety during their sessions: simply don't fly there.
I am afraid that this is going to become the norm in the industry. The economic gain that some of these production crews stand to gain out way the risk they pose to the by standers they endanger. The fact of the matter is many of these companies and individuals that are buying these are also seeking liability insurance from insurers to operate them is such environments. This is exactly what the people who are fueling this industry want to do.
If we want to protect what we have here I feel walthero is right. What those who frequent this site, and makers of such aircraft need to be taking away from such incidents is that we need to be taking an active part in designing and developing safer drones. If for any reason to minimize the injury to ones self, or others. We don't want a top down approach to fixing this growing problem. I promise you we won't like it. I am already not liking some of the proposed legislation that I have read is being thrown around here in the states.
There is much that can be done on the software side to help, but there is just as much that can be done on the hardware side as well. Personally I haven't seen much real discussion on just what needs to be done to make these things safer for such use. There certainly isn't a lack of ideas floating around out there.
I think there are some key mistakes happening time and time again, money knows better than knowledge in the UA world. If we get a safe method of operating into the heads of many folks that might start spreading slowly.Utopian concept perhaps. Europe is harmonizing its licencing efforts and bringing in bigger fines for transgressors.
I think everybody is waiting for the first incident where somebody is killed by a large multi. Its kind of too late to then say well we all saw it coming or I told you so.
Yep you can't control how everybody flies, but we might expect higher standards from members of this community. The community to a large extent that has driven civilian UA development for the last five years.
While the flight standards Gary mentions are crucial for progressing this industry, they only stand to limit our hobby.
There does need to be regulation, but does anyone think it will reduce the number of incidents? A Pay-to-Play UAV Pilot licence will only make things worse. In my mind, a good flight school would be inexpensive(accessible) and have a low success rate. Everyone can try, only the best are accepted. Make UAV Pilot a recognized profession. Who out there would be qualified to set training guidelines? I would gladly accept half of my current income to change careers. (If I qualify.)
Gary, I think DIY people in general are very free spirited and would like as few restrictions/rules and possible to limit their creativity. And there is nothing wrong with that, if you just apply some common sense and respect for other peoples safety.
Well you can easily argue they are not professional operators. We have a flight standards group here but it seems folks are not all that interested in creating them! http://www.diydrones.com/group/flight-standards
We can discuss and lament as much as we want. It won't do a thing because the people who do that are not present here.
Suggestion:
How about we write up an open letter. Something like "In light of recent event we would like to remind that a drone is not a camera crane. Drones are inherently dangerous objects which can cause great bodily harm when descending in an uncontrolled fashion. Their operators require extensive knowledge and training to be able to pilot the vehicle in a safe manner and safety rules - such as never flying over people - should be observed at all times." Of course, we need a nice introduction and put things into words that everybody can understand.
In that letter, we should also encourage the associations to establish a "code of conduct" regarding the operation of drones and require - at least strongly encourage - their members to adhere to this code of conduct. And we should ask if the associations already have any kind of guidelines regarding usage of drones for their members and if so, request a copy of those.
Then we send those to all photographer-, reporter- and media- associations in the world and document that and their responses here on DIYD.
In all recent cases, there were no hobbyists involved. They were big camera ships which were used to cover events. Lamenting here is IMHO barking up the wrong tree. We need to get the "professional" users under control!
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