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Phantom pilot arrested

Posted by Chris Anderson on October 18, 2013 at 11:50am

The pilot of the Phantom that crashed on a Manhattan street earlier this month has been arrested, ABC reports:

David Zablidowsky of Brooklyn has been charged with "Reckless Endangerment" for allegedly losing control of a helicopter drone at "an unreasonable height creating a substantial risk of serious physical injury". 

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Comments

  • Jason October 29, 2013 at 4:12am

    Well now.. here is a good case to encrypt any onboard video recording.

  • Andy Horka October 27, 2013 at 4:56pm

    Additionally I couldn't be happier with the amazing support from Transport Canada in our endeavors. Recently I had to do a shoot near YVR, our major airport for Vancouver. They got me special clearance to fly up to 150 feet and helped to coordinate with the flight tower. People are on or side, sometimes we just have to invest a bit of time to see the rules are not always against us.

    Here is a sample from the shoot, use rightmost icon for full screen.

    http://www.zemhtech.com/panoramas/BigSkyCam/CondoViews/Floor%2015c....

    Andy

  • Andy Horka October 27, 2013 at 4:52pm

    We are at a very delicate point in the evolution of UAVs, and Thomas is correct, every oops takes a whole bunch of damage control to remedy.

  • Admin
    Thomas J Coyle III October 27, 2013 at 4:48pm

    Remember, it can take 10 attaboys to make up for every aws**t that is committed by someone like this drone operator!:-)

    Regards,

    TCIII ArduRover2 Developer

  • Simon Howroyd October 27, 2013 at 4:27pm

    There is no defence for this. Saying other crimes are easier to commit therefore this is ok is ridiculous. In the rc & UAV community we ll know one incident could trigger the whole can of worms which goes against our technology. Don't tempt fate by flying in built up areas where when the worse happens it could endanger the community or worse somebodys life.

  • Shyam Balasubramanian October 27, 2013 at 3:33pm

    Omg.. in simple words, this does two things:

    1) Makes Phantom quadcopter business happy and more people are aware of it.

    2) Endangers the autonomous platform for hobbyists, esp. for due to fear of videographing in public + in-near future requiring license to fly such copters.

    Bad boy pilot!

  • Andy Horka October 27, 2013 at 9:18am

    I maintain, with hucksters like Colin Guin clearly stating his product can be flown after 5 minutes of instruction, how is this incident a surprise. These days it seems folks need a warning label to remind them that they have to breathe! Hucksters and dufusses, what a combo!!! And Sam, I agree with you 100%, ready to fly is really dangerous.

  • AlanGP October 27, 2013 at 9:08am

    This guy deserves all he gets, he might as well have thrown a lawnmower of his balcony. It sucks that this might impact the hobby adversely.

  • Sam Lane October 27, 2013 at 4:47am

    i Dont think people should be able to buy ready made multi's. its dangerous if they dont have any RC experiance and have to rely on the autopilot! But what a moron! Ruining the fun for the rest of us! 

  • valentin colon October 25, 2013 at 9:25pm

    uppsss they did again!!!!

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