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
Do you think that fully legal things are not dangerous ? What about the recent Fukushima disaster ? How harmfull is it ?
In the recent civil aviation history there is a great example of inexperienced pilots flying a dangerous plane with air pressure sensors design problems in a big storm (with the main pilot sleeping), and crashing it, killing everybody on board. It was fully legal isn't it ?
So relax and be smart.
I like Research and Develoment. The proof's are your flying abilities from many that made your wing from the past. I salute progress not sure of advertisements though. Fair and Balanced.
I think it's fairly important to state we're not doing these kinds of flights to get personal kicks. We were invited to the university campus of UVA and were hired to do these shots. If that were not the case, getting the approval for these things would have been way out of our league.
While we "recreationally" fly over cities and streets, we would not dare to fly these kinds of low level maneuvers simply due to the fact that we don't have the manpower to keep lookouts or the authority to warn people prior. We've been tempted to fly through tunnels countless of times and always opted to do without any tunnel shots during the preparation phase. This one was a short tunnel that did not have many of the risks of normal road tunnels and with the proper approvals all the concerns we had were attended to.
While in reality these things are not dangerous we recognize that - if something did go horribly wrong - it could be blown out of proportion. So in that sense while primarily our reputation (and dare I say "day job") is on the line, it could also have repercussions for the UAV scene worldwide. This is the real reason why we spend so much time with the preparation and approval phase these days. I'm fairly confident to say I could do this every day for the next 3 months and nothing noteworthy would happen to any bystanders or traffic.
I love this stuff, keep up the good work guys you are an aspiration. Yeah
Simon, the only reason we did these flights is because they were part of an advertising campaign for the location that we flew at. Pretty hard shooting an advertising clip about a building out in the open. Also, this is not pushing the limits, we were flying with a huge margin of safety. I could document for each shot that we took the security precautions, plan B's, etc. Last but not least, it's not a neighborhood, it's a University Campus.
I believe Simon is right. We agree all that common sense is the best safety measure. So, pushing to the limits (it does not matter what kind of activity is) have to take place far from random people if this activity could be dangerous.
I agree with Simon, all activities have their area to be pushed to the limit (stadiums, circuits, clubs, etc), and I believe all we agree that your neighborhood is not this kind of place.
I don't think the Pheasant example is very good ... The only thing I think you could argue is if they were being farmed in the area for hunting. I think the litmus test for this is that it is something is that a person honestly has control over it. I know that some people do get angry at cat lady's and bird feeders in my area for related reasons. When I get a little better I might try to get permission to do this on my campus over the summer.
I have not said anything about regulating RC flights. I am urging everyone to use his common sense not to do stupid things, both with skateboards and RC aircraft. Be as safe as you can and don't think about what can go wrong is a really lame advise - sometimes you just can't be safe enough. Then it's time to stop and think what you can do differently.
With regards to the obviously very experienced pilots pushing their boundaries - I can't see any reasons why they can't use their prorogative somewhere where there's no random people to be hurt. Like local RC club, in a forest flying between tree branches? Would you be happy if very experienced formula 1 pilot was pushing his boundaries on the streets in your neighborhood?
@Simon Salykov, I have in fact hit pheasants twice on my motorcycle. One of them was at 70km/h and the bird hit me directly in the face, I had an open helmet. No crash. Pheasants have not been banned either.
@David Eno, you know I was thinking about just that thing. Turns out Elton John is building a house just down the road from me. I have already wondered... "Boy, I could get some great photos with my heli..."
the worlds obsession with public safety has gone beyond insane.
it seems anything new that is remotely dangerous has to be banned or heavily regulated in order to save ourselves from ourselves.
On the flipside, we don't want to do anything that pushes the envelope, in case it causes governments to regulate against it. If we aren't doing it out of fear of being regulated then they may as well regulate it because we are too scared to do it anyway.
There are millions of RC airfraft around the world.
There are also millions of skateboards around the world.
I guarantee that more people will die or be injured in skateboarding accidents than will by RC aircraft, yet there is no talk of regulating skateboard, simply because it has been around for years and the existing laws cover people doing stupid things on either RC or skareboards.
I say, go for it have fun, be as safe as you can, but don't not do something out of fear that something might go wrong.
The reality is we don't need any regulation to address this.
If Trappy had an accident and damaged a building or hurt someone then he could be charged under existing laws in just about any country for endangering public safety, damage to property. In the US he could probably also be be sued by the individual or property owner.
These laws have existed for years and are more than enough to deal with people doing stupid things.
It should be up to the individual and if you do something stupid that hurts someone or damages something the existing laws should provide more than enough punishment.
Just be careful and be as safe as you can and don't do anything beyond your experience and capability and you can't really go wrong.
If someone who is obviously very experienced is pushing the boundaries that is their perogative, and if they have an accident, then its also their responsibility. We all should just sit back, relax, enyoy the videos and wish that we had both the skills and the balls to do the same :)
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