Even though my question might have sounded silly to you, I was not the one who originally asked it. The question was asked by the FAA to a variety of universities in the USA in trying to assess risk caused by drones to humans. They were tasked with performing lethality studies on human subjects. We have all seen the videos posted here about what a Phantom can do to to the wing of a Mooney private aircraft traveling at 238 mph, and it took a big chunk out of the wing.
I started this thread as a response to a concerned, and justified, post by
@noosaguy who wrote the following in the following thread:
Mavic Pro 2 Dropped out of sky!
"Reading this stuff gives me panic attacks. There are times when it's almost unavoidable to fly over people or roads etc. Should our drone 'fall out of the sky' at a time like that (unlucky I know but it potentially could happen) and hit a person and severely injure them, or worse kill them, we would be in major do do. Or should it fall out of the sky and hit a car causing a serious accident... same result. So, my question is, what are the chances of a catastrophic failure whilst flying? Does it happen very often or am I concerned about an improbable and exceptional circumstance?"
The correct answer, according to one university physicist, is that a blow directly to the top of the head by a Mavic would cause the least amount of damage to the person. The larger surface area of the heat sink plate would spread the impact load to a wider surface area. The worst way to get hit would be straight in the forehead, because the front edge of the Mavic would incise and penetrate the skull.
Correct sir!
You are also correct. I was shocked to learn of the low fatality rate of getting a drone slammed in to your head at 50 mph. Most strikes would cause a broken skull, a concussion, and maybe unconsciousness, but a very low number caused death.