Something like this was bound to happen with the mass market of drones to people not having safety in mind.
By Stephanie Klein, MyNorthwest.com Editor | June 29, 2015
A woman was knocked unconscious by a small drone at Seattle's Pride parade on Sunday.
Police say she was in the crowd near 4th Avenue and Madison when the drone crashed into a nearby building and fell onto the woman. Her boyfriend caught her as she crumpled to the ground.
An off-duty firefighter treated the woman and called for police.
Full story here Drone crash
Comments
Hi DG,
A lot of the little quads are really also low mass and have a lot of side surface area, a few of them (like the Blade 200 QX have fairly thin profiles and relatively high mass and they are just as solid as the big copters in wind.
Quite surprisingly so when you fly them for the first time.
The trick is to design them properly in the first place.
Best,
Gary
Micro copters have been out for a long time, The one I had was fun, until the least bit of wind made it uncontrollable and really not fun at all. My friend has a 270 from Multiwiicopters.com. Sure it's cool and fast, but again, the thing gets blown all over the place when it gets windy, whereas my behemoth Y6 boat anchor moves along like nothing happened.
In drag racing (my real love), it is said there is no substitute for cubic inches, but whatever floats your boat, go for it.
The drone’s pilot has come forward and contacted Seattle police. Detectives continue to investigate the case.
The wind caught it?? Seriously?? Need a disclaimer to fly in zero wind conditions I guess.
Well, even companies actively encourage people to do exactly this.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRX_dlzmLJc
Hang on boys its gunna get worse!!!!People just dont get it!!!!
Right there with you, Gary. Same thought process in my mind the last couple years too. Let's team up and make millions with a crowd funding campaign. I am ready to build the future.
Hi HeliStorm,
I've actually been harping on micro quadcopters for over a year now and I am utterly convinced they are the path of the future for 90+ percent of "drone" sales.
The fact is that it is quite feasible to stuff really good 1080P video and great FPV capability into a 250 (or even 200) sized quadcopter and for the vast majority of people there is just no compelling argument to go bigger.
Aside from the economy of scale, the primary driving issue is safety with increased portability and reduced perceived impact also being important.
The one argument you can make right now is that bigger quads can fly longer, but the smaller ones can make possible the implementation of Lithium Ion batteries with their higher power densities and erase that advantage.
Bigger multicopters are really only needed for high end (not real estate agent) commercial video, photo and mapping use and for cargo transportation (at the moment not a compelling use in any quantity).
By the end of the year I expect the overwhelming importance of 200 - 250 sized quadcopters to be clear to everybody.
The Solo and Inspire have a lot of cool stuff, but electronics is really easy to miniaturize and the cameras should be component level objects like they are in the cell phones they came from.
By years end everything in a Solo or Inspire will be available in a 250 sized quadcopter (You Heard It Here First!)
I make lots of predictions, the large majority of them come true, but I am often off on the timing (mostly thanks to failing to adequately appreciate the effect of Corporate self interest in retarding advance (HDTV for instance).
Amazingly targeted advertising has managed to put up a MicroDrone add on the right side of my screen - they are getting better at it.
When we have Holographic displays we are probably going to have to stamp out the targeted holographic ads with a virtual fly swatter.
BTW I think the Zano is really cool, but it and the MicroDrone are limited in my estimation by using brushed motors.
Brushless motors (especially brushless motors with really good bearings) are of really really major importance to turning our little toys into serious tools and there is much work to be done there yet along with a lot better propeller design.
Best Regards,
Gary
Gary McCray...I think the crop of smaller lighter drones is going to be exactly what the average consumer is hungry for, and not realize it yet. I am seriously considering a BeBop for fun, simple flights with better than average results for something of the size. Zano drone looks to be another contender too. The Microdrone 3.0 with micro gimbal. The new RCLogger EOX pro edition with micro gimbal. All of these have the chance to open up the market for micro aerial photography.
Did they ever say what brand/model Drone it was?
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