has anyone ever had a director/producer ask them?

[inspire909]

to fly to close to trees/buildings/people or fly in really high winds. pretty much ignoring safety and risk crashing your inspire?
i was doing ariels for a indi movie called blood initiate and the director keeps asking me to try and get these crazy difficult shots like hovering in between these two palm trees pretty much directly over the actors heads. (i must admit they would make awesome shots)
today we have 25mph winds and a kp index of 5 and we were supposed to do a shot with me in the back of a pickup truck and follow a 1926 model T over a causeway about a mile in length over water and i told him no way i won't risk hurting someone or crashing my inspire
what do you guys think? was it the right thing to do. ?

 

[The Editor]

Absolutely the right thing to do.
If clients ask me to do something that I do not consider safe or achievable safely then I politely tell them 'No'
At the end of the day YOU are responsible for the safety of the flight and you have the say whether you go airborne or not, not some dickhead director/client.
It's not his certification on the line if you operate outside of your permissions or operating limitations.
If it means you walk off the job then so be it.
In those instances you should be charging a deposit sufficient to cover your expenses which would not be returnable so at least you are not out of pocket.

 

[lake_flyer]

It's the hardest dilemma in our business. To say NO and willfully pass on the opportunity to someone who WILL fly, regardless of regulations and safety issues.

But it's the only thing to do. You did right.

 

[Machoman]

I would gladly accept any offers not matter the risk as long as the client pays enough to cover possible crashes or flyaways and necessary legal setup = cost for unique offshore corporation as the contractor.

You ever noticed that each movie is produced by some fancy unique setup corporation only for this specific production. So obviousely a unique offshore corporation needs to be setup for risky flight also. Its not even expensive.

 

[The Editor]

I would gladly accept any offers not matter the risk as long as the client pays enough to cover possible crashes or flyaways and necessary legal setup = cost for unique offshore corporation as the contractor.

You ever noticed that each movie is produced by some fancy unique setup corporation only for this specific production. So obviousely a unique offshore corporation needs to be setup for risky flight also. Its not even expensive.

Interesting, so in making those comments you seem to be putting financial gain over safety.
Not a club I care to subscribe to.

 

[Machoman]

I am not a producer who decides how the movie is made. But typically any actor and stuntman takes risks and gets paid for it.

 

[The Editor]

But not at the risk of other individuals or innocent bystanders.
However, I am assuming you are not commercially certified to fly by the Aviation Authority in your country so that would explain a lot.

 

[Machoman]

I doubt in the german speaking countries there are many possibilities to earn something with flying drones. Especially with movies. And IF someone would make a movie in Germany they would not even come to the idea to ask for flying in risky conditions. This will never happen in Germany. The people who successfully earn are almost all from USA, UK or maybe Australia. Germany is a good country for beeing customer but no for trying professional stuff.

 

[slim.slamma]

to fly to close to trees/buildings/people or fly in really high winds. pretty much ignoring safety and risk crashing your inspire?
i was doing ariels for a indi movie called blood initiate and the director keeps asking me to try and get these crazy difficult shots like hovering in between these two palm trees pretty much directly over the actors heads. (i must admit they would make awesome shots)
today we have 25mph winds and a kp index of 5 and we were supposed to do a shot with me in the back of a pickup truck and follow a 1926 model T over a causeway about a mile in length over water and i told him no way i won't risk hurting someone or crashing my inspire
what do you guys think? was it the right thing to do. ?

We talking bout practice...
Practice

 

[slim.slamma]

We talking bout practice...
Practice

Oh yeah, in 25+ winds it gets sluggish flying from side to side. Red and green it keeps speed.
The i1 could've most likely handled the job.
But not the phantom.
Reads like you wasn't prepared and in over your head. With the i1. Shook

 

[SultanGris]

It's not really a risk if you're a proficient pilot. I suggest practicing and mastering flying in atti mode, do not rely on gps and you will have way less problems or risks while flying in the long run. Gps is likely to fail and drop you into atti mode at some point, especially if flying close to/under trees or buildings. Being proficient flying in atti mode will make these experiences a non issue.

 

[The Editor]

It's not really a risk if you're a proficient pilot. ............ Being proficient flying in atti mode will make these experiences a non issue.

Equipment failure?
Civil or crew encroachment?
Operating outside of your operations envelope thus voiding your insurance?

There are many, many reasons outside of just being a 'Tom Cruise -Top Gun Atti pilot' why you should not attempt certain situations.

I am proficient in inverted flight with collective pitch helicopters but there are places I flatly refuse to operate my multirotors just because someone wants me to.
There is much, much more to safe flying that just being an 'ace' pilot.

 

[SultanGris]

Fair enough, if you refuse to fly around people, trees or buildings I think you'll find the interest in your services quite severely diminished however. It is possible to safely fly over people you know.

 

[The Editor]

Fair enough, if you refuse to fly around people, trees or buildings I think you'll find the interest in your services quite severely diminished however. It is possible to safely fly over people you know.

Not with a non redundant four rotor machine and without their permission it isn't! (Not if I want to hang onto my CAA Authorization that is).
I may as well give up now!

 

[inspire909]

i have been flying collective pitch 3d rotors for 5 years now and would like to think my atti skills are good enough to pull these shots off but it still comes down to safety of the crew. you always have to remember ...you have a flying lawnmower that could possible kill someone ...and when i was saying under trees i wasn't just talking about flying under them i was talking about getting really really close like in this screen shot. this was one of the easier shots we settled on

 

[gruvpix]

Cool shot!
I get asked this on just about all of my projects. I would consider myself probably riskier than most when it comes to regard for the drone itself. If there are other factors such as proximity to people, interference, or sheer impossibility I will not do a shot, but I have built up a pretty good idea about what the Inspire is capable of and how to get out of tight situations. There is also usually lots of planning involved including an analysis of what could go wrong and the consequences.
So far so good on corporate projects, no crashes or close calls and I have been able to get some pretty technical shots when asked to do things I wouldn't try on a non-paying project.

 

[pepeticos]

to fly to close to trees/buildings/people or fly in really high winds. pretty much ignoring safety and risk crashing your inspire?
i was doing ariels for a indi movie called blood initiate and the director keeps asking me to try and get these crazy difficult shots like hovering in between these two palm trees pretty much directly over the actors heads. (i must admit they would make awesome shots)
today we have 25mph winds and a kp index of 5 and we were supposed to do a shot with me in the back of a pickup truck and follow a 1926 model T over a causeway about a mile in length over water and i told him no way i won't risk hurting someone or crashing my inspire
what do you guys think? was it the right thing to do. ?

All the time !!! Directors most of the time do not care about safety or your inspire !! some does but most do not ....so you should be the one who evaluates the situation and decide to do it or not ...

 

[Dave Stanton]

In my case my director is also, always my boss. He owns the company and I work for him. Yet, he has asked me for shots I thought were too risky. If I'm flying I quickly explain why and politely say "No." If he pushes back, I remind him it's his Inspire 1 QC and does he want to risk losing $2,700+ as well as hurting someone or something. That usually ends it. However, well before flying, we have discussions about what he wants to see and I give him feedback on what we can and cannot do. We revisit that after we scout the location but before we fly.

I've seen this "switch to attitude mode and get better at flying" stuff before on this forum. I'm sorry but I think that's crap. If it's windy and/or there are gusts, I don't care how good you are at flying, that's risky. If you are a one man band like me, you have to watch the aircraft, the controls and the video you're shooting all at the same time. I'm not going to add in a risk factor I don't need to just to brag about how great a pilot I am and I got that dangerous shot. The best response I saw said, YOU are ultimately responsible for the safety of the aircraft and the people and other things around you. YOU make the determination to fly or not to. If you get fired from a job because you wouldn't do something unsafe, you are better off and you don't an A__hole client like that. If they refuse to pay you later, sue their butts. I think most courts would side with you.

 

[SultanGris]

Only you can access the risk and know your flying skill but how close are we talking? Flying within 5-10 feet of something is pretty easy and low risk with decent skills but a foot or less ups the risk for sure. I definitely see your point about the one man band though, it does distract from your flying attentions.

 

[pepeticos]

Also you can tell him besides the risk of the Inspires, the only responsable for demage in case you hurting someone is YOU!!! NOT HIM, the pilot is responsable for anithing that happend with the bird.