I know I'm probably going to get some heat for posting this, but some of you may enjoy a little collage of a "day in the life of a BlackSheep" nonetheless
If it helps, all approvals necessary were obtained, an army of ground helpers were available, as well as constant communication with the heliport tower to stay in the loop about incoming traffic.
Comments
Comments closed. Thanks all for the discussion.
I've asked Trappy to close the comments on this thread. I think it's gone long enough and is now descending into incivility. I have removed some comments that were verging on personal attacks.
Brian, sorry I know our page can be a bit messy. and you guessed it, we're way too busy flying our hearts out, the product section has grown incredibly and we're probably going to need to re-structure the products.
if you haven't seen it, we do have a checkout and buy button, it's under www.team-blacksheep.com/shop ... once you add products to the cart you can do a paypal checkout.
in any case, thanks for enjoying our videos. in 3h we're having a 1-year-NY-video celebration here, we booked a couple of flights too ... hope you guys enjoy what we'll come up with :)
I've been on and off this site for some time. When I could, I have contributed what I thought were interesting directions, or tidbits of data, and even hardware designs. I sincerely enjoy spirited discussions like this one. I am going to say a few things, then be on my way.
- First, we must all acknowledge that what we do with this hardware CAN be dangerous; to what degree is determined by a combination of planning, adherance to a set of logical guidelines, and just plain common sense about what is safe. Second, disagreements about the size, weight, speed, etc. are all about the degree of damage that can be done...not about the FACT that damage CAN be done - we've all seen it happen, so arguing about whether or not it can, or the possible severity is just more grist for the mill. Sometimes the damage is not directly to a person or property, but to the hobby and to the fun, and possibly the freedoms we currently enjoy. As this is an international forum the rules are different for some of us than they are for others.
I have to say what concerns me most (WAY more than trappy's videos - which by the way really have VERY little to do with drones since they are done FPV by a person, and not by APM or any other system found on this or any other site about autopilot hardware) is the rancor and lack of respect that we seem capable of tossing back and forth like verbal grenades. I'm not going to whine and say, "Can't we all just get along," primarily because as I said, I enjoy the spirited conversation - but can we please keep the personal attacks to a minimum??
I recommend this site to family, friends, and even my son - but when it gets too snarky, it becomes another pointless flame forum.
@Paul - I sincerely appreciate your candor, support of the hobby and you do, in fact, bring up a ton of salient points in this thread...some of which are diminished by sarcasm (which I understand is sometimes used to make a point.)
@trappy - You have got some mad skills when it comes to FPV and I freely admit to loving your videos, but I also must say that they ARE cutting edge. Surely you can see how some people, whether inside the community or through the eyes of a complete novice, might consider it dangerous and might therefore turn to government to regulate it. And again, surely you can agree that would generally be a bad thing - I don't want my fun day at the field with my son to be turned in to felonious fodder for the evening news because of some misguided new legislation based upon what an ill informed public and legislative body saw on Youtube.
That's all I have to say 'bout that.
Wrong, that's what you report. The news has been using words such as "amazing", "innovative", "spectacular" and all these jibblywords that you never use on a day to day basis becase you're way to sour, unimaginative and afraid to go out into the world with a bit of positivity. There, I said it.
With all the BS you've been spreading in this thread, you're doing way more to increasing the perceived risk of this hobby than any other video or person could ever do. In your own words, all it takes is one idiot internet user to blow a video way out of proportion, and one politician takes up this nearly non-existant cause, and the fun is over. That, my friend, is reality punching you in the face. I'll go enjoy your next "last comment" now.
Incidently, the AMA is not a government body and is without legal force. The AMA makes suggestions or recommendations for model flying.
Should the FAA get a hold of drones, one should understand they may look for fines in the quarter million dollar range and may not fight fair. "The most important distinction in government is the degree of government" -- Sam P. Huntington
There already is an AMA code that covers FPV.
http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/550.pdf
It is not by any means law, but I basically follow it other than that i don't use a specific buddy box for my spotter.
In my opinion, another point is the FPV itself.
Nowadays we are just few people but if in a near future we still growing, a "circulation code" have to be written. We are not bikes or cars, but we are not planes neither. I believe that something has to be done, just to put order, if someday there are one hundred of foamies flying over New York for instance.
Just one point about stadistics,
they say whatever we want, in the street, the probability of being hit by a foam plane is less than by a car. Just the same probability of being hit by a "spy bistec" (you know, cold, tough and with iron nerves), and that does not mean that throwing bistecs through the window is safer.
The probability is low just because there are not enough foam planes flying over our heads, not because it is a safe activity.
This is not an attack agaisnt safety, this is only what are stadistics under my point of view.
I agree with many of you that think that there are not exist "zero risk" but trappy is a profesional and tries to reduce the risk as low as possible.
In my opinion, this kind of activities out of the conventional areas (like rc clubs, exibitions, etc) have to be regulated by the law, just for avoiding people who are not like responsible such as trappy of flying over our heads.
The law have to be clear, if a disgrace happens, an issurance and the law have to be updated for meeting the situation rightly.
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