Brooklyn Man Arrested for Crashing Drone in Manhattan

[Warren Kawamoto]

EXCLUSIVE: Arrest made after small helicopter drone crash lands on New York city street | 7online.com

[Darren Levine]

good. reckless endangerment sounds about right

[James Manford]

What an idiot ... Luckily it didn't hit any one!

I completely agree with pilots needing to hold a license and the correct insurance etc. They're just too risky and shouldn't be treated like a toy.

[Chuck Spaulding]

I think everyone agrees, this guys is an idiot and hopefully will get the punishment he deserves. But making every other good law abiding MR pilot have to get a license for this idiots behavior is wrong.

Do you think having a law that everyone flying an RC has to have a license would have made a difference in this incident?

The quotes that were attributed to some guy that claimed to be a pilot, well that guys as much of an idiot as the MR pilot who crashed! Here's a test, look up, how many airplanes do you see? Any? If so, how many and how close are they? The claims that this guy, and others like him, make about the likelihood of a collision between a MR and any other aircraft are so over exaggerated.

Seriously, everyone needs to stop posting crap like this if you think the solution is to license MR's why stop there? Clearly the answer is to license GoPro's, clearly they are the ones responsible for this.

[Dave Blackhurst]

And spoons, and hammers... those things are SOOOOO dangerous...

[Brian Drysdale]

The only regulations that people seem to be suggesting are for professional operators of drones.

Professional chefs are trained to use knives and when I studied engineering I was taught the correct techniques for using both the flat and round sides of an engineering hammer. No one is stopping hobbyists from using either implement, but professionals are trained in an attempt to ensure a minimum standard in an industry.

[Ger Griffin]

Its simple common sense, you need a licence to drive a car.
Obviously you should need a licence to fly a drone.
The only problem at the moment is its so difficult to even find out how to go about it that
noone is going to bother.
Thats what needs to be addressed.
Unfortunately it seems we are going to have to wait until someone looses their life to it before anything is done.

[Chuck Spaulding]

Originally Posted by Ger Griffin

Its simple common sense, you need a licence to drive a car.
Obviously you should need a licence to fly a drone.
The only problem at the moment is its so difficult to even find out how to go about it that
noone is going to bother.
Thats what needs to be addressed.
Unfortunately it seems we are going to have to wait until someone looses their life to it before anything is done.

What percentage of Americans drive how many cars? How many cars were on the road before the government required the driver to have a license? Why did the State government require licenses in the first place? What percentage of drivers, especially in California drive without a license or insurance? [the number might surprise you] How many people do you think will buy a DJI Phantom with aspirations of becoming a professional will fly it for about a month, crash and never fly it again versus how many people buy a car, drive it for a month and never drive it again for any reason?

MR's ARE NOT CARS! THEY ARE NOT AIRPLANES! THERE ARE FAR FEWER INJURIES FROM MR's then there are from people using SKILL SAWS but I don't need a F$#%*! license for a skill saw.

Originally Posted by Brian Drysdale

The only regulations that people seem to be suggesting are for professional operators of drones.

Professional chefs are trained to use knives and when I studied engineering I was taught the correct techniques for using both the flat and round sides of an engineering hammer. No one is stopping hobbyists from using either implement, but professionals are trained in an attempt to ensure a minimum standard in an industry.

The claims of the number of MR's being flown, crashes that result in serious injury or property damage, and the number of people trying to do AP professionally are so over exaggerated that AP for any reason has been outlawed in 17 States already, before the FAA has made a single ruling.

Sorry, Chefs do not have to be licensed to own, operate or work in a restaurant. In most circumstance nor do Engineers. What differentiates a professional chef from a hobbyist cook is the quality of their work, if its good enough people will buy. I'm not suggesting that food preparation isn't highly regulated, in most States its probably over regulated, but that's a food supply issue that has nothing to do whether the chef has a license, And I know a lot of people who design, develop and distribute some really cool products that aren't engineers, not licensed to do anything and didn't go to college. Steve Jobs being one of them.

The minimum standard your looking for is the free market. If you show up to a $3M house to shoot some aerial footage for a realtor and the maintenance guy has to fish your MR out of the pool or you crash it into the car in the driveway you will probably never work for another realtor within a 50 mile radius, in fact after that experience it might be a while before that realtor hires anyone to do aerial for them again. It will have a profound impact on your ability to gain further employment plus you'll be spending a lot of your future earning paying for the damage. A license has nothing to do with the civil liability.

I'm guessing that a lot of people who comment on this website regarding AP have never actually done AP, your checking out this thread because its something you might be interested in. If the government regulates the flight and use of MR's I can guarantee that it will become more confusing than it already is, cost prohibitive for most, incredibly OVER complicated and the only people who will actually be allowed to fly them will eventually be the "professionals" who had the time, money and opportunity.

The unintended consequences of this will be much less amazing AP, increased regulation requiring more liability insurance, not only on the pilot but anyone who designs or manufactures parts, which will result in fewer parts being designed and for the ones that are still distributed the cost will go up significantly. So the person shooting amazing AP in Idaho will in all likelihood be doing it illegally, kind of how it is now but without all of the innovation and easy access to great equipment. Sounds like a great idea to me.

So why can I guarantee this? Because for anyone who is a pilot and owns a plane knows this is what happened to General Aviation since 9/11. Actually its been happening to GA since the early '70's. So if you don't think this can happen to you with your MR's, I have a great plane I'd like to sell you.

[Dave Blackhurst]

The difference of opinion here is that on one hand there is a call for licensing - you DO NOT NEED a license to do pretty much ANYTHING... NEED implies a "requirement" to do something....

Stupid people will simply ignore reasonable training/safeguards/processes, that's human beans fer ya. Outlaw stupid, there won't be enough jails for EVERYONE... but I'm sure some entity will gladly collect the "fines". Adding a "required" license will just add fees and fines... and only for SOME.



OTOH, there is a desirable situation where "pilots" of R/C have some TRAINING, understand potential risks and take appropriate measures to minimize those risks (sometimes you might call this "common sense").

People nowadays are easily scared, some so much that they need tinfoil hats, but the reality is life entails SOME risk, you can't eliminate every possible risk, and you sure as heck don't want to live in a world where "legislators" are passing as many laws as possible to answer every paranoid delusion of a "scared person"... we're WAY too close to that already, best not to feed the wolves...


Look at how fingernail clippers were banned from flying after 9/11 - think about that, fingernail clippers (OK, I explained to a friend how to use a pen to "disable" an attacker after she was afraid to fly after 9/11... she flew with a BIG smile, pen in pocket... but I digress). As SOON as you start creating "agencies" and passing rules, the next thing you know, you've got a mess... and in the end, you may or may not make things any safer or "save" any lives... stupid, irresponsible, and just plain accidents will STILL happen.

IF you choose to fly, do it responsibly, know your equipment, and minimize or eliminate wherever possible, risks to yourself and others. Is it really more complex than that? OK, maybe add "don't do something stupid just because someone else does it..."

[Ger Griffin]

Originally Posted by Chuck Spaulding

MR's ARE NOT CARS! THEY ARE NOT AIRPLANES! THERE ARE FAR FEWER INJURIES FROM MR's then there are from people using SKILL SAWS but I don't need a F$#%*! license for a skill saw.

Unless you are running at someone with a skillsaw then your not endangering anyone elses life other than your own. Not the case with MRs. This is why I believe it should be mandatory to do the course to get the licence. At least then these idiots with too much money and free time will think of something else to do with both.

[Ger Griffin]

Quadcopter hits groom in the head. // Epic Fail - Seriously - YouTube

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Ger Griffin

Unless you are running at someone with a skillsaw then your not endangering anyone elses life other than your own. Not the case with MRs.

Ger - I've made a similar point several times in another thread. What risks anybody takes with their own life or property is one thing - what risks they take with somebody else's life or property is another matter.

Is that really so difficult to understand.......?

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Originally Posted by Ger Griffin

Quadcopter hits groom in the head. // Epic Fail - Seriously - YouTube

I hope that next time when the couple in this video think of kissing or holding on to each other, they won't have nightmares of a drone hitting them.

[Brian Drysdale]

Given that the USA is probably one of the most litigious countries around, I'm surprised that there's much debate on professional operators needing minimum skill levels. One of these drones flying around the business centre of a city hitting the CEO of of billion dollar corporation (extreme I know, but not impossible in some places) might result in really heavy handed regulations being put into place

I suspect you won't last long as a chef in a restaurant or an engineer working for a company, even as a one man operation, unless you've got skills and the traditional methods of apprenticeships and training is the way most people learn these. You start up a catering establishment, but you can find that there's a fair amount of regulations involved and poor practise isn't good for the health of your customers. http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/rating/ http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/ser...spection.shtml

[James Manford]

There will always be enthusiastic hobbyists who operate things properly, or are self-taught following how to tutorials, that never injure anyone or cause damage to any ones property.

But because the copter has a potential danger of harming or even killing some one, I think a license should be required ...

A minimum of 5 operating/flying lessons with a qualified instructor. Then you can take the exam. With a theory test.

Done, license given with photo ID which then needs to be renewed every 3 years.

It would create some jobs for the economy too !