Excerpt from a friend who is a non pilot!

[White Airwolf]

Thought I would share with you this story from a friend who is completely naive when it comes to drone laws and safety concerns.


"No one will ever get killed by a drone. You are perpetuating a false narrative.

I only point out the obvious that drones are safe. There are millions of them with countless flights and no one has been killed. Everything needs to be taken in context. Accidents are bound to happen but drones are very safe. There are better ways to save lives than by creating a false story about drone dangers. No one wants to damage his drone on purpose. As long as people don’t do anything reckless, then flying the new drones should be no problem. Cars are more dangerous.

You could channel your passion by banning baseball. Death at the Ballpark: A Comprehensive Study of Game-Related Fatalities, 1862-2007 is an impeccably sourced compendium of the men, women, and children who have died or been fatally injured while playing, officiating, or watching baseball in the United States. Its authors, Robert M. Gorman and David Weeks, two librarians and baseball historians at Winthrop University in South Carolina, have spent the last eight years scouring local-newspaper archives (sample search terms: "baseball and death" and "baseball and killed") for examples, in some cases going so far as to track down death certificates to confirm their results.They chronicled 850 baseball deaths in Death at the Ballpark, spanning professional, amateur, Little League, and even backyard pickup games. And though the book purports to be comprehensive, readers have already tipped them off to about 50 incidents they missed.

Texting while driving kills 6,000 annually in the U.S. alone
Vending machines kill 13 people per year.
Pencils are the cause of around 100 deaths per year
Every year, 40-60 people are killed by lightning.
Every year, 450 people die just from falling out of bed

My point is that drones are very safe."


Wow! Even Trevor Noah would have a field day with this!


"The original story was about an army helicopter striking a drone at 500 feet!

The odds are astronomical. There are more lightning strikes than drone hits. I think that people will be a little more careful now, at least for a while. The publicity will help safety awareness. The helicopter shouldn’t have been flying so low in the beach area. They should enforce the law that they need to be over 2,000 feet. Everything is fine in the end as only the rotor had to be replaced for extra safety concerns. It proves that drones are not as dangerous as some claim.

“It struck on the left side of fuselage. There were no adverse impacts to the flight.”


Again, unbelievable the naivity of some people !

 

[Casey53]

Military will and can fly however they want. They routinely buzz a lake at 100 feet with their F-15's in tandem in a MOA and over the local airport at <500 feet and hit their afterburners and go vertical over it. Nothing is heard on the Unicom as to them coming either so they may be using military radar for making sure the area is clear for their antics. The noise is deafening, and they are there for only a minute or so and then gone in some dog fight over the mountains nearby which is fun to watch.

Even our local sheriff's helicopter lands in the parking lot at a restaurant to eat as well as the local school yard to use their restroom (They joke about arresting some unruly kindergartner). I doubt if they are over 400 feet AGL most of the time they are using their searchlight and IR camera flying that circle thing they do over the city.

The Air2 guys who fly their copters for the high-tension linemen to work on rotor is only about 6 inches from the 500,000 volt lines they work on. An errant drone would cause the pilot to be distracted enough so it could kill two people. I've watched them use two helicopters in Los Angeles city limits working on high-power lines (One to the rear provides the main copter's line clearance for the mian one's blades and rotor.). If he is distracted, it will kill two people in a minute. I wondered about someone launching their drone while the aerial lineman is connecting up to the lines with that wand and to the copter.

The drone operator in Staten Island blew it. Probably a good fine would be to pay for the heli's rotor and the A&P's salary to do the job. Then put him on some felony probationary period and publicize it.

 

[vic2rose]

Military will and can fly however they want. They routinely buzz a lake at 100 feet with their F-15's in tandem in a MOA and over the local airport at <500 feet and hit their afterburners and go vertical over it. Nothing is heard on the Unicom as to them coming either so they may be using military radar for making sure the area is clear for their antics. The noise is deafening, and they are there for only a minute or so and then gone in some dog fight over the mountains nearby which is fun to watch.

Even our local sheriff's helicopter lands in the parking lot at a restaurant to eat as well as the local school yard to use their restroom (They joke about arresting some unruly kindergartner). I doubt if they are over 400 feet AGL most of the time they are using their searchlight and IR camera flying that circle thing they do over the city.

The Air2 guys who fly their copters for the high-tension linemen to work on rotor is only about 6 inches from the 500,000 volt lines they work on. An errant drone would cause the pilot to be distracted enough so it could kill two people. I've watched them use two helicopters in Los Angeles city limits working on high-power lines (One to the rear provides the main copter's line clearance for the mian one's blades and rotor.). If he is distracted, it will kill two people in a minute. I wondered about someone launching their drone while the aerial lineman is connecting up to the lines with that wand and to the copter.

The drone operator in Staten Island blew it. Probably a good fine would be to pay for the heli's rotor and the A&P's salary to do the job. Then put him on some felony probationary period and publicize it.

Your reply makes a case for the easiest safety procedure of all...common sense. I can almost guarantee that (excepting very unusual circumstances) sensible, safety-aware UAV pilots will probably have a safe and fun "career" as a UAV pilot. What will ruin it for the rest of us is the irresponsible pilot who "doesn't believe it could ever happen to them" (yep, even the FAA has that on the UAV test, lol).

Disrespect for danger or possible harm will cause someone to mess up, and then it will affect us all. I saw a guy out by a lake near my house flying a drone, and went over to say "hello". The guy was obviously intoxicated, and, while I was there, thankfully flew his drone into the side of an outdoor park restroom building, ending his day before I could ask him why he was flying his drone while drinking, over a group of people (I did anyway, by the way, lol). I advocate fun and adventure. But safety should always play into the equation.

As much as I dislike it, these people will fly, and we will have to deal with the fallout. Hopefully, those in charge of the rules will remember the good guys when they make new ones, lol. Good comments here.

 

[AMGPilot]

The helicopter shouldn’t have been flying so low in the beach area. They should enforce the law that they need to be over 2,000 feet.

Show me where in the FAR's there is a Minimum flight altitude. Give you a hint, You cant.

 

[White Airwolf]

Show me where in the FAR's there is a Minimum flight altitude. Give you a hint, You cant.

And who are you voicing your displeasure to?

 

[LuvMyTJ]

And who are you voicing your displeasure to?

I think it's the way you broke it into 2 post... lemme fix that.

 

[White Airwolf]

I think it's the way you broke it into 2 post... lemme fix that.

I was quoting the story from a friend who doesnt understand aviation.
This was not my comment. I was merely pointing out how some people, who've never flown a drone as in this case, sound off utter nonsense!

 

[MGS]

I would guess that the majority of people arguing safety concerns about UAVs don't understand aviation, better yet have any experience with UAVs.

Isn't that how it works these days?

 

[William Gaddy]

Show me where in the FAR's there is a Minimum flight altitude. Give you a hint, You cant.

Er, em.. Title 14 CFR Part 91.515?

 

[Hemilock]

interesting information. Thanks!

 

[AMGPilot]

Er, em.. Title 14 CFR Part 91.515?

now read 91.515. 91.501 is applicable ONLY to: Large AND turbine-powered multiengine airplanes and fractional program aircraft. If you are flying under 91.501, then your VFR min altitude is 91.515 all others use 91.119

 

[licensed pilot]

Thought I would share with you this story from a friend who is completely naive when it comes to drone laws and safety concerns.


"No one will ever get killed by a drone. You are perpetuating a false narrative.

I only point out the obvious that drones are safe. There are millions of them with countless flights and no one has been killed. Everything needs to be taken in context. Accidents are bound to happen but drones are very safe. There are better ways to save lives than by creating a false story about drone dangers. No one wants to damage his drone on purpose. As long as people don’t do anything reckless, then flying the new drones should be no problem. Cars are more dangerous.

You could channel your passion by banning baseball. Death at the Ballpark: A Comprehensive Study of Game-Related Fatalities, 1862-2007 is an impeccably sourced compendium of the men, women, and children who have died or been fatally injured while playing, officiating, or watching baseball in the United States. Its authors, Robert M. Gorman and David Weeks, two librarians and baseball historians at Winthrop University in South Carolina, have spent the last eight years scouring local-newspaper archives (sample search terms: "baseball and death" and "baseball and killed") for examples, in some cases going so far as to track down death certificates to confirm their results.They chronicled 850 baseball deaths in Death at the Ballpark, spanning professional, amateur, Little League, and even backyard pickup games. And though the book purports to be comprehensive, readers have already tipped them off to about 50 incidents they missed.

Texting while driving kills 6,000 annually in the U.S. alone
Vending machines kill 13 people per year.
Pencils are the cause of around 100 deaths per year
Every year, 40-60 people are killed by lightning.
Every year, 450 people die just from falling out of bed

My point is that drones are very safe."


Wow! Even Trevor Noah would have a field day with this!


"The original story was about an army helicopter striking a drone at 500 feet!

The odds are astronomical. There are more lightning strikes than drone hits. I think that people will be a little more careful now, at least for a while. The publicity will help safety awareness. The helicopter shouldn’t have been flying so low in the beach area. They should enforce the law that they need to be over 2,000 feet. Everything is fine in the end as only the rotor had to be replaced for extra safety concerns. It proves that drones are not as dangerous as some claim.

“It struck on the left side of fuselage. There were no adverse impacts to the flight.”


Again, unbelievable the naivity of some people !

"There are millions of them with countless flights and no one has been killed. "

No ships ever sank because they struck an iceberg...until the Titanic
No zeppelin ever exploded and burned to a crisp...until the Hindenburg.
No airliner ever dropped an engine on take off...until American 191.
No nuclear submarine ever ran into trouble and sank... until the Thresher.

Your friend's logic is flawed.Just 'cause something hasn't happen does not mean it won't ...ever.