Aerial cam risks

[Trond Saetre]

Thank you Dean.

According to this link, I see my nr 3 should be 3 miles instead of 5 miles from the airports:
http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/m...ular/91-57.pdf

And from what I have heard, 2015 is the year we (hopefully) will get some more specific rules from both FAA and their European counterparts.

[Warren Kawamoto]

Here, an RC plane collides with a real one. Someone could have died that day.
LiveLeak.com - Crash Of RC Plane Into Real One Sparks Dogfight Over Air Rights

[Dave Blackhurst]

That is a VERY misleading article at best - not a shred of substantiation for the "conflict", just yellow/sensationalistic journalism, or should I say what passes for "journalism" on the internet...

Looks like a small local airshow (biplane was trailing smoke, like it was doing stunts), and the R/C was probably also doing some demonstration flying - you can see a line of aircraft on the ground in the background... and a guy with a walkie talkie that may have been "flightline" control (epic fail, BTW).

They do this sort of demo at small local airshows (seen it many times)... but there is an element of chaos that seems to go with these smaller shows... I personally, along with a large part of the crowd, got blasted with jetwash as a acrobatic team taxied out at one such show... the following year they adjusted their tarmac clearance. At another show I watched a acrobatic R/C heli demo go bad (was filming, and suddenly the heli just vanished, pilot lost it, straight into the ground...) - the crowd cheered the "pilot" as he dragged the remains back, and no one was hurt, even if the event was expensive!

Accidents happen at airshows (even the big ones, like the juge crash at Reno a couple years ago), that looks to me like ALL that happened here. Two "demonstrations" that should NOT have been going simultaneously. Considering the size of that R/C, I'm surprised the biplane didn't go down - they should have not have been in the same airspace, but SOMEONE on the ground dropped the ball...


ANY situation where machines are potentially interacting (like cars on a street...) with other machines, or people, presents RISKS! So does getting out of bed... As I think I've already mentioned, you can't outlaw STUPID, but you can pass laws and regulations to TRY, but in the end STUPID is what it is. And accidents do happen, even with rules, regulations and laws...

This is a relatively new technology, with lots of "good" and also plenty of possible "bad" - to present an apt analogy... cameras can be used to shoot inspiring educational material, or cat videos... OK, maybe cat videos don't kill anyone, but...

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Andy Wilkinson

For those that can view it, this article in todays Daily Telegraph (UK) is about the rise in usage of drones for news gathering, paparazzi etc. and the need to change laws regulating use of UAVs.

They changed the law in the UK a couple of years ago. Now you need to be tested & licensed if your aerial photo/video work is in any sense commercial.

[Warren Kawamoto]

Someone sent me this video. I was born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii, and know where all these were taken. What scares me is that some of these videos were shot in commercial airspace!

1. :15 Volcano's National Park, tour helicopters fly here frequently. Video looks like it was taken higher than 400 feet.
2. :55 Corner of Mohouli and Kinoole St. This area is a final approach zone for 2 runways only a mile away from the airport.
3. 1:18 Honolii. This airspace is a final approach corridor for commercial aircraft, 3 miles from the airport.
4. 1:40 Akaka Falls. This area is congested with sightseeing helicopters. The waterfall is 400 feet high, but this video appears to be higher than that.

Only On Bigisland... on Vimeo

[Andy Wilkinson]

Now it seems terrorists might use UVAs...

Remote-Control Model Plane Attack 'Foiled'

[Chuck Spaulding]

This kind of paranoia is why the government will ultimately ban all commercial RCAP.

Physics spoils terrorist plans to use RC's not bureaucrats. How much explosives do they think and RC aircraft can carry and how far?