Hello Laurens23. I see your profile reads that you are a male from China?
While I respect your input, don’t you feel your comments lack critical thinking. I wasn’t at the event therefore I couldn’t make the kind of absolute comments as you have. Since you are In China, perhaps you weren’t an observer as well.
I also fLy in a city park, and as soon as I arrive the kids flock around so I let them take turns either wearing my
DJI Goggles, or I’ll send the drone up to a safe altitude and let the kids stand beside me and take the controls.
I don’t know if you are a parent. I have four children and perhaps I’m a little over protective, but the last thing I would have allowed my small child do is wander away from me, EVER. It only takes a second for their curiosity to get them in trouble.
The pilot may or may not be to blame for awareness but the “parent/s” are certainly at fault,
@JayNC is simply expressing a desire to exercise a right to enjoy a God given right of freedom to use space to enjoy a hobby. I didn’t see anything in his post aludint to his group being irresponsible. I realize the Chinese don’t have the same rights. If you are a resident, ex-pat, missionary, foreign exchange student, whatever the case, you should be well aware of the differences between communism and freedom. I served as a missionary in a socialist country, had sever brothers who served in the military against countries trying to impose their oppression on their own people such as Korea and Vietnam.
I’m an old timer, 60 going on 35 . I love the freedom of flying drones, especially since flying aircraft has gotten so expensive. If you too fly drones, perhaps you could offer a more constructive commentary to JayNC and their group in an effort to help them succeed.
If you are a dad, I can understand you frustration. But at the same time, being hyper critical without knowing the facts simply shows everyone you’re inability to think critically.
In summary, I absolutely hate the child was injured. Thankfully ha didn’t loose an eye or some other serious injury. But to shut down an entire group’s activities due to the incompetence on a parent, or an oversight of a pilot, is nothing less than “Hot McDonalds Coffee, if you catch my drift. If JayNC were acting wreckless then yes, your comments would have been spot on, but I just didn’t read into his post what you did.
Again, if you have some advice on how the group could succeed, I’m sure they would be receptive.
@Mad Mavic, thank you for your honest post.
Yes, I am a dad (3 year old son), and yes, I do live in China as an expat from a European country. Obviously I was not present at the incident, and it looks like we have a different opinion on the incident, which is totally fine.
Yes as parents we are responsible for our kids, and like I wrote before the parent in in the above case obviously failed at that. However it is my opinion that this does, in this case, not take away the responsibility from the drone operator.
@JayNC wrote that they had warned the parents multiple times, but the parents did not do anything. This implies that they drone operators were aware, or should have been aware, that this kid was running around! Both the “old times keeping track of the landing area” and the drone operators themselves should then have been EXTRA careful or stop flying until this kid was gone. They are responsible to operate their drones safely to the best of their abilities, and they failed at that. If they knowingly cannot guarantee the safety of the people, they should not fly!
Yes you have the right the freedom to enjoy this public park, so does the child and his/her parents. Freedom does not mean you can do whatever you like, freedom is something you enjoy and share with others.
They were operating drones in a public space not dedicated to drones. This park is intended for soccer and baseball. If they were playing soccer and the kid got a ball in his face nothing much would have happened. Similarly, if they were flying at a designated drone area and a kid suddenly runs into the field and is hit, the drone operator can't be blamed as he was operating his drone safely to the best of his knowledge. At most he safety of the field can be looked at (fencing, observers), but it’s unlikely the city would close the field over an incident like that.
The following is just speculation, but maybe the drone operator was flying FPV? This incident is exactly the reason why there are VLOS regulations. If he was flying VLOS he probably would have seen the kid and be able to take evasive action. However because this was not in the post I did not mention it before.
As neither of us was present we likely never know the full details of how it happened. But I stand by my previous post. Abide it being harsh, with the fact we know, it is my opinion that the drone operator shares the major part of the blame. Regardless of how it happened, incidents like this only further damage the image of our beautiful hobby.
Now for some constructive feedback:
It seems like there is a group of people who regularly get together to enjoy this wonderful hobby.
If you can fly regularly, it seems that 8 soccer fields and 8 baseball fields is a bit overkill for the park. I would start by getting as many drone enthusiast together. Then, representing all of them, requesting the city council for 1-2 of the fields to be turned into dedicated RC fields? Or at least get some dedicated times to fly.
Argue this
sport is becoming more popular, that it encourages (young) people to be outside. That it promotes engineering and interest in STEM. That with the park off limits there is no safe alternative to enjoy this hobby. make it sound like it is an opportunity for the city rather than a risk. Also Argue that with a dedicated field comes organised safety to avoid future incidents (information and warning signs for spectators, 2 safety observers who keep the field safe and stop operations in case of an unsafe situation 1 person dedicated to interact with spectators if they have any questions, and hand out info-and safety-leaflets.)
Be careful not to argue that, with the park off limits, people will start to fly illegally. That is a very bad argument and a slippery slope! If you argue this the council will hear “if you don't give us what we want we will break the law”.
If the city council does not approve this flying location ask for another flying location. Come up with some possible areas but tell them you are open to their suggestions as they have a more in depth knowledge of the city planning. Keep going back to annoy them with the issue until they give in.
Give a demonstration. Invite some people from the council to come fly with you guys (at a safe and legal location)
Contact the AMA and see if they can help (I don't think so but you can try).
If everything fails, maybe you can avoid public areas and find someone with a large private are where you can fly.
