The fly-away situation was of course a serious problem, but there were other problems prior to losing control of the drone. In an interview, the remote pilot (Burciaga) agreed that the danger to manned aircraft was quite serious; yet he did not acknowledge the reckless actinos he committed intentionally ... no authorization, flying too high, flying over people, flying over moving traffic.
Burciaga seemed to say that he launched from the top of a parking garage. I have tried that maybe three or four times with a DJI drone and always get a compass error - presumably because of the rebar in the concrete.
Legitimate safe remote pilots are incurring a PR problem because of reckless actors. Seems like once a week I see someone post a drone photo or video on either instagram or youtube that was either clearly illegal or would be legal only with FAA authorization. (I've seen some legit remote pilots actually state in the comments that the photo was made with FAA authorization.) Violate the rules and then proudly display the evidence? Or maybe that indicates ignorance of the rules.
What is the status of the basic knoweldge test for recreational pilots? Last I checked (last spring) the FAA required it for but had not actually rolled out any such test.