As I reached for the drone
the plastic propellers really spanked my fingers. I felt pain but suffered no visible injury
beyond a little redness that quickly disappeared. Had I been using carbon fiber props I would
have definitely needed stiches and a trip to the ER. I was lucky my negligence did not cause what
may have been termed a minor injury.
Through negligence, I nearly
suffered the only kind of injury that the small multi-rotor drones ever inflict.
Thankfully in my case, my precious fingers
and the props were none the worse for wear.
To date, the smaller under 55
lbs. multi-rotors have never caused a reported death or significant
injury. That’s a perfect safety record
considering there are over a million of these things out there in civilian
hands. Unfortunately the 7,000
helicopters in the world can’t begin to boast similar safety statistics.
The multi-rotor drones are
almost exclusively camera drones used to obtain low altitude, slow speed, photo
and video images. These are in no discernable
way risky flights.
The FAA recommends that these
drones be operated at less than 400 feet and five miles away from airports
without advance control tower approval.
They also suggest not flying over the heads of crowds. Flying near crowds is not an issue.
These voluntary, common sense
limits are easy to live with for most of us.
Avoiding other aircraft such as low flying helicopters involved in rescue, media or police activities is
imperative. There is little fear of my little
quad damaging a conventional helicopter because of the heavy prop wash that
would quickly push my little drone far away.
It’s for the survival of our
somewhat expensive drones that we need to always give right of way to any
aircraft manned or unmanned.
But for the outright ban on
any commercial use there are the reasonable FAA recommendations. Somehow we wound up with a bunch of
self-appointed drone cops/trolls. They
think their role is to dictate to their fellow drone operators with their own
laws. They’re doing a disservice to
others by demanding our politician’s make new laws and regulations that will
strangle the safe exploitation of drones.
The misguided drone cop/trolls ignorantly scream that flying in any urban area is dangerous and will somehow
bring a total drone ban. They never take
into account the perfect safety record or the First Amendment rights of camera
drone operators. Cameras, even flying
cameras are constitutionally protected!
Laws may be passed but one by
one they will be challenged in court and the First Amendment will always win in
the absence of a real and present public safety issue.
Things can and do go wrong
and it’s nearly always pilot error but when they do the damage is usually
insignificant and limited to the drones.
We have enough fear and
loathing of our flying cameras and the bogus drone cops are giving the ignorant
ammunition to make arguments for strangling regulations.
It won’t be some 12-year-old
kid flying negligently that ruins it for all, but a self-appointed drone cop/troll
crying Chicken Little in a Public forum.
We all have a duty to teach
other the safe and effective way to enjoy this exciting technology. Leave the police work to real cops.
