Trying To Be Responsible? Here is What We Are Up Against..

Jubalr · May 10, 2016

Thought I would share what I experienced yesterday with another 'pilot'. I was browsing YT looking at videos when I came across the one posted below. I know YT is full of this kind of stuff, but what makes this different in my mind is this guy is a celebrity of sorts in the Birmingham, AL area. And as such he has a following. In his video, he is promoting cheap aftermarket antennas he has put on his new Phantom 4. And in his video he flies from the edge of Birmingham right into downtown and very likely Class B airspace of Birmingham Intl. Airport, and well over 400' AGL (I know because I checked the height of some of the downtown buildings.)

So as someone with an audience, I politely asked him "Well beyond visual line of sight and over 400' AGL. Why would you encourage such reckless behavior?" And his exact quote back to me....
"That one's easy. --Because it's FUN!!Thanks for watching!"

And of course his video is followed by the usual posts of "Wow! Awesome job! I'm going to order a set today!"

So very sad, and frustrating. But that is what we are up against and the difficult job the FAA has in trying to rein this sh*t in.

AND in this video, he is flying inside a packed room, with low ceilings, 1-2' above people's heads!! What a ****!

I think most of us on here are a little more responsible than this. Am I right?

pyrate · May 10, 2016

exactly why we will be regulated. People want to complain about it, but while I am no fan of government, I would take a test and pay for a certification to set myself apart from these people hell bent on ruining it for everyone.

If there was ever a group of people incapable of self policing it is drone flyers

RichWest · May 11, 2016

Jubalr said:
...is this guy is a celebrity of sorts in the Birmingham, AL area.

I think Chris Anderson had it correct, Jack-assery.... Can't help stupid...

EyeWingsuit · May 11, 2016

@Jubalr , did you notice he's deleting comments about his flight? I've posted three since last night. All are gone. Several others have made comment about VLOS, commercial use, etc. I've seen two others deleted in the evening.

Jubalr · May 11, 2016

EyeWingsuit said:
@Jubalr , did you notice he's deleting comments about his flight? I've posted three since last night. All are gone. Several others have made comment about VLOS, commercial use, etc. I've seen two others deleted in the evening.

Well that's interesting. I think he is dangerous also because of his following minions and encourages this kind of thing.
He may be getting a call...

EyeWingsuit · May 12, 2016

I shared this with the OP of the video over Birmingham; he deleted my post.
This came from a customer of mine that received a call. I garbled the phone number to protect the Inspector who gave me permission to post it.

{edit} Just noticed he's deleted my other two posts to him, but left the one with this FAA phone call. He's now deleted the video of flying in church; I wish I'd grabbed it prior to it being deleted, as it's a perfect example of irresponsibility.

Ed Beck · May 12, 2016

As most of my posts this is mostly relevant to commercial operations.

I'm in a couple of business networking groups and I spend a lot of my time doing public education and that responsible drone pilots know and obey the law.

1. You need a license from the government saying that you can transport stuff over public roads - is the 333.
2. After you have this license you need a CDL to drive the car - pilot license and what the follow-on is.
3. You then need to have a license plate on the truck - N-number.

People seem to get this.

Another thing I've done is to put a link on my web site to the FAA's approved 333's page encouraging people to look up if their commercial drone pilot is on the list.

Doug Benson · May 14, 2016

I think most of us on here are a little more responsible than this. Am I right?

Wow, that guy is such a tool!
This just happened the other day here in Miami.
Model hit by drone during Miami Beach photo shoot

Steve S. · May 14, 2016

Jubalr said:
I politely asked him "Well beyond visual line of sight and over 400' AGL. Why would you encourage such reckless behavior?" And his exact quote back to me....
"That one's easy. --Because it's FUN!!Thanks for watching!"

This jingle-ass is going to get people hurt or killed! It's an uphill battle trying to get the public to understand the good that UAV's can do and this pinhead just steepened the grade!

Jubalr · May 14, 2016

Doug Benson said:
Wow, that guy is such a tool!
This just happened the other day here in Miami.
Model hit by drone during Miami Beach photo shoot

Wow, That could have been very serious! She blamed the wind; I blame the pilot!

Tamj · May 14, 2016

That guy really doesn't care for safety at all. He mocks about not keeping it in VLOS at the end of the video.

On another note, I couldn't help but wonder how exactly the Phantoms have longer range. Isn't it still wifi just like the Solo? If that's the case, why does the Phantom, stock, go much much further even beyond the range of typical wifi signals?

Han Solo · May 14, 2016

I saw pictures of her after the drone struck her her face. Very lucky for her the fuselage hit her and not the props. I too agree, major pilot error... Probably not error in flying so much as an error in judgement.
In my flight training (sport airplanes), Aeronautical Decision Making is an integral part of flying. The decisions you make may mean the difference between life and death. We need to keep in mind the dangers we could pose with our quads, and think straight and not to do bone-headed stunts.

Ed Beck · May 14, 2016

I used to work with models more than I do now, product and portfolio work. Occasionally I'd put one in a pose or location that was difficult, but looked great. Sometimes one of them would complain about being difficult to hold the pose. I'd look at them with a blank look on my face and tell them "you say that like it's my problem."

Usually I'd get a stunned look, then a smile. Occasionally the model would get pissed, then I called it a wrap and contacted another model to finish the shoot.

I never thought to whack any of them in the head with a drone...

Dave Folts · May 14, 2016

Steve S. said:
This jingle-ass is going to get people hurt or killed! It's an uphill battle trying to get the public to understand the good that UAV's can do and this pinhead just steepened the grade!

Amen! And why does it seem to be these DJI jockey's that are the major culprits?

PdxSteve · May 15, 2016

Dave Folts said:
Amen! And why does it seem to be these DJI jockey's that are the major culprits?

Because they make up like 80+% of the consumer quad market? If 80% of people drove Fords, there would be a lot more accidents involving Fords lol. They totally dominate the market as far as sheer raw numbers, so of course they will have proportionally higher numbers across all metrics, including the idiot metric.

Just the day that the p4 came out, they had more new registered users on the P4 facebook groups than the solo has in total when already having been out an entire year.

If there were 100,000 Solos out there, I'm sure you would see a lot more Solo "idiots" on the news. Fact is, we're a microscopic body compared to DJI, although I have seen some idiot news stories involving Solo pilots as well, such as this one that probably cost tens of thousands to the taxpayers in damage having to shut the station down, and employ many cops and firefighters to remove it. Drone stuck in power lines at Metrolink station in Orange

Dave Folts · May 15, 2016

PdxSteve said:
Because they make up like 80+% of the consumer quad market? If 80% of people drove Fords, there would be a lot more accidents involving Fords lol. They totally dominate the market as far as sheer raw numbers, so of course they will have proportionally higher numbers across all metrics, including the idiot metric.

Just the day that the p4 came out, they had more new registered users on the P4 facebook groups than the solo has in total when already having been out an entire year.

If there were 100,000 Solos out there, I'm sure you would see a lot more Solo "idiots" on the news. Fact is, we're a microscopic body compared to DJI, although I have seen some idiot news stories involving Solo pilots as well, such as this one that probably cost tens of thousands to the taxpayers in damage having to shut the station down, and employ many cops and firefighters to remove it. Drone stuck in power lines at Metrolink station in Orange

I had no idea the numbers were that significant for DJI products. But then again, I didn't go looking for market share stats either.
thanks