Crash & burn... hopefully learn

[RunnerGuy]

Witnessed my first drone crash / near-miss as a non-participant.

We were walking out of service this morning with mom pushing walker, heard a buzz, looked up, saw Pantom 4 at about 75’ hovering. Then 5 seconds later, heard a hard rev-up, then turned to see upside down crash right behind us onto concrete pavement. It narrowly missed several elderly people. Camera separated, cover split open, landing gear gone, battery half-way out, all propellers shattered.

I picked up pieces, looked around unsuccessfully for pilot, talked to a few other people who also saw it. Then about 5-10 min later some young adults walked up glad I found their phantom (pieces).

I inquired if they were registered... why their drone wasn’t marked with registration ID, if they had a flight waiver from CAK 2.3Km away, why they were flying over people without a chute, and why flying beyond VLOS.

Mouths open, no answers :-(

 

[Casper52]

Wow, glad no one was hurt.

 

[old man mavic]

and we wonder why drones get a bad name ,so glad that the outcome was no injuries to anyone, but it is just more ammo for the anti drone lobby hope you gave them some worldly advice @RunnerGuy before they left with there damaged phantom at least they wont be doing it again for some time

 

[Drone Alliance]

What as responsible pilots are we to do in these cases? Is there a tip line? I dont want to see anyone go to jail but they need to be educated.

 

[kensteele]

I inquired if they were registered... why their drone wasn’t marked with registration ID, if they had a flight waiver from CAK 2.3Km away, why they were flying over people without a chute, and why flying beyond VLOS.

Mouths open, no answers :-(

just asking, do you think any of those things had something to do with the crash?

 

[RunnerGuy]

What as responsible pilots are we to do in these cases? Is there a tip line? I dont want to see anyone go to jail but they need to be educated.

I referred them to the FAA website page regarding drone use, and indicated there were several new regulations pertaining to their activities. But safety should have been their biggest concern — luncky no one was injuries.

Based on the level of damage, they’ll probably not be flying anytime soon.

 

[RunnerGuy]

just asking, do you think any of those things had something to do with the crash?

Not sure- maybe they got too close to slope of roof and weird VRS caused instability. But regulation and training are meant to prevent accidents / injury. This was likely preventable.

I’m just not sure how someone can own & fly a Phantom 4 without knowing anything about 107...

 

[kensteele]

Not sure- maybe they got too close to slope of roof and weird VRS caused instability. But regulation and training are meant to prevent accidents / injury. This was likely preventable.

I’m just not sure how someone can own & fly a Phantom 4 without knowing anything about 107...

maybe because you can purchase, own, and fly a phantom 4 without having 107, no?

 

[old man mavic]

maybe because you can purchase, own, and fly a phantom 4 without having 107, no?

@kensteele that is the crux of the problem lack of knowledge about the requirements of drone ownership at point of purchase, and although things are improving now it is to little to late, the authorities are trying to play catch up by bringing in all these new regs, and the people who follow the rules are the ones who have to bear the cost of the new rules and regs unfortunately, i hope that the fact that people will have to register their drones and take a test to understand the responsibilities of drone ownership, and the fact that they can be fined and have their equipment taken from them will deter those individuals from drone ownership in the future, of course none of this will matter to those intent on terrorism or protest using a drone to further there cause.

 

[kensteele]

@kensteele that is the crux of the problem lack of knowledge about the requirements of drone ownership at point of purchase, and although things are improving now it is to little to late, the authorities are trying to play catch up by bringing in all these new regs, and the people who follow the rules are the ones who have to bear the cost of the new rules and regs unfortunately, i hope that the fact that people will have to register their drones and take a test to understand the responsibilities of drone ownership, and the fact that they can be fined and have their equipment taken from them will deter those individuals from drone ownership in the future, of course none of this will matter to those intent on terrorism or protest using a drone to further there cause.

so wait, there are requirements for drone ownership; what are they? if you meant flying (not purchasing) then do you support registration and online testing as a condition of completing the sale?

ok, tell me again how i can't fly my drone out in middle of bfn big bend national park helps anybody from a safety perspective.

 

[old man mavic]

so wait, there are requirements for drone ownership; what are they? if you meant flying (not purchasing) then do you support registration and online testing as a condition of completing the sale?

ok, tell me again how i can't fly my drone out in middle of bfn big bend national park helps anybody from a safety perspective.

i know what you are saying i agree that the drone ban in national parks is preventing drone flyers from some of the best scenery in the USA,,we have the same problem in this country with the national trust who will not let us fly over their property, and the sad fact is that we know that flown properly within the guidelines, that our hobby would not have the negative responses we now get. in the OP it is clear that the incident shows that the drone was not being flown in a responsible manner, it was in an urban enviroment not out in the sticks ,and yes i do support drone registration and some sort of test before the drone will fly if it helps stop all the idiots from buying them ,and then through their actions giving us a bad name

 

[RunnerGuy]

so wait, there are requirements for drone ownership; what are they? if you meant flying (not purchasing) then do you support registration and online testing as a condition of completing the sale?

ok, tell me again how i can't fly my drone out in middle of bfn big bend national park helps anybody from a safety perspective.

Lots of things are banned in National Parks for the general public: panning, base jumping, fireworks, gathering (berries / nuts), feeding animals, throwing rocks, caving, releasing balloons, tokin', and dronin'.

I may not agree with every regulation, but upside is that everyone gets to enjoy nature without distractions. If you can hike it, you get to enjoy the view.

 

[GFields]

Witnessed my first drone crash / near-miss as a non-participant.

We were walking out of service this morning with mom pushing walker, heard a buzz, looked up, saw Pantom 4 at about 75’ hovering. Then 5 seconds later, heard a hard rev-up, then turned to see upside down crash right behind us onto concrete pavement. It narrowly missed several elderly people. Camera separated, cover split open, landing gear gone, battery half-way out, all propellers shattered.

I picked up pieces, looked around unsuccessfully for pilot, talked to a few other people who also saw it. Then about 5-10 min later some young adults walked up glad I found their phantom (pieces).

I inquired if they were registered... why their drone wasn’t marked with registration ID, if they had a flight waiver from CAK 2.3Km away, why they were flying over people without a chute, and why flying beyond VLOS.

Mouths open, no answers :-(

I would have loved to see their expression!

I am also glad no one was hit by the crashed drone. An elderly person could have been severely injured (well anyone for that matter).

 

[RunnerGuy]

I would have loved to see their expression!

I am also glad no one was hit by the crashed drone. An elderly person could have been severely injured (well anyone for that matter).

They appeared caught off-guard at the incident. Definitely did not expect their drone to go down, narrowly missing a bystander.

I agree, it’s a relief no one was injured.

 

[AMann]

@kensteele that is the crux of the problem lack of knowledge about the requirements of drone ownership at point of purchase, and although things are improving now it is to little to late, the authorities are trying to play catch up by bringing in all these new regs, and the people who follow the rules are the ones who have to bear the cost of the new rules and regs unfortunately, i hope that the fact that people will have to register their drones and take a test to understand the responsibilities of drone ownership, and the fact that they can be fined and have their equipment taken from them will deter those individuals from drone ownership in the future, of course none of this will matter to those intent on terrorism or protest using a drone to further there cause.

I very much agree with you, training and licensing works for airplanes and cars (mostly), why not for heavier than air flying robots that sometimes fail and can fall on people or end up flying where they can endanger lives? Drones for all is not something to take lightly, it used to be a hobby done by just a few that never bothered anyone, but unfortunately now government involvement is necessary to keep it safe due to all the people like the ones OP had contact with.

 

[kensteele]

Lots of things are banned in National Parks for the general public: panning, base jumping, fireworks, gathering (berries / nuts), feeding animals, throwing rocks, caving, releasing balloons, tokin', and dronin'.

I may not agree with every regulation, but upside is that everyone gets to enjoy nature without distractions. If you can hike it, you get to enjoy the view.

i agree let's do things that make sense. perhaps there are limitations; time, place, and manner. maybe the national grasslands don't ban drones in the summer when the grass is high when there are zero visitors or the national prairies doesn't ban drones when done off-road or the national deserts don't ban drone during daylight because the temps are over 100 and nobody is out there to bask in the sun.

there was a time i could never visit national parks. couldn't even enter the park. why? because i never left home without a firearm and national parks had no firearms allowed in the park, no exceptions, unloaded or not, federal law, leavenworth and all. i had to drive across the country unarmed if i wanted to visit a national park and that wasn't going to happen.

we fixed that.

you can fix this.

 

[MavicMikeK]

Unfortunately there are people that don't care about regulations or laws. Anyone can buy drones, be they toys or expensive ones and with a few acholic beverage's go flying recklessly without regard for anyone's safety.

 

[kensteele]

Unfortunately there are people that don't care about regulations or laws. Anyone can buy drones, be they toys or expensive ones and with a few acholic beverage's go flying recklessly without regard for anyone's safety.

yep, just look at the body counts piling up for dwis with cars. i say we set some priorities and work on those first rather than bring up the ludicrous idea about driving and flying drones. maybe they need to do dwi checks on the airport tarmac and test some of the airlines pilots.

 

[Shon]

It’s not just young people though. I talk to people in their 40s that buy drones, and proceed to fly without any bother to research laws, completely oblivious to their responsibilities. In talking with them, some have zero interest in even learning.

 

[RunnerGuy]

It’s not just young people though. I talk to people in their 40s that buy drones, and proceed to fly without any bother to research laws, completely oblivious to their responsibilities. In talking with them, some have zero interest in even learning.

Maybe the ominous is on the FAA to better promote guidelines to the general public, rather than reacting to incidents with new regulations. To me at least, it’s been a confusing year trying to understand what I’m suppose to do as hobby droner.