Altitude, fuel, and experience.

[R.Perry]

My grandson got me watching drone crashes on Utube. Some of the mistakes I noticed were do to altitude, fuel (battery voltage), and obvious inexperience.

Altitude is your friend, it gives you time to react to the unexpected.
I seen a few accidents where the drone operator was flying just a few feet off the ground in a congested areas and was obviously inexperienced.
I watched one video where the operators again were inexperienced and ran the drone out of site and power.

I think most prudent people will not wait until there cars gas gauge says empty to start thinking about getting gas.
It amazes me how low people will drain their batteries before deciding to land.

My personal practice is when my batteries hit 30% I want to be prepared to land, and at 25% I’m landing.
Some will say, gee you still have several minutes of flight time remaining, and they would be correct, but I don’t wait until I’m about out of power to land.

Not only that my batteries don’t get overheated. The motors are going to demand the same amount of power, and as voltage goes down, amperage draw increases, and as amps increase, heat increases.

I believe what the FAA needs to do is at the very least have an educational video that must be watched prior to purchasing a drone.
We may call these mistakes stupid, but the reality is most of what I saw was inexperience and lack of training.

 

[Phaedrus]

Well, they (FAA) are going to have a test for recreational sUAS. The question is, how many people will actually take it.

 

[BigAl07]

Until there is some publicized enforcement and some public education campaigns we will have more of what we have. They (FAA) need to make examples out of some operators and in a BIG way.

Here's a YouTube video that demonstrates the shallow end of the drone gene pool:

 

[GadgetGuy]

Until there is some publicized enforcement and some public education campaigns we will have more of what we have. They (FAA) need to make examples out of some operators and in a BIG way.

Here's a YouTube video that demonstrates the shallow end of the drone gene pool:

From the thumbnail, that looks like a pretty sweet end of the drone gene pool!

 

[R.Perry]

Thanks for posting BigA, it is obvious in most of those cases the operators were clueless and inexperienced. I think one of the problems is drones are perceived as toys and since they are looked upon as a toy, it is learn as you go. The FAA must really be scratching their heads trying to figure out how to manage this mess.

 

[LUIS MARTINEZ]

Until there is some publicized enforcement and some public education campaigns we will have more of what we have. They (FAA) need to make examples out of some operators and in a BIG way.

Here's a YouTube video that demonstrates the shallow end of the drone gene pool:

Was that a Ford?????

 

[GadgetGuy]

Until there is some publicized enforcement and some public education campaigns we will have more of what we have. They (FAA) need to make examples out of some operators and in a BIG way.

Here's a YouTube video that demonstrates the shallow end of the drone gene pool:

Here's the high quality clickbait thumbnail that brought us all here. Epic, indeed!

 

[RKDauph]

The two most useless things in aviation are sky above you and fuel in the truck on the ramp.

Plan ahead.

 

[LUIS MARTINEZ]

The two most useless things in aviation are sky above you and fuel in the truck on the ramp.

Plan ahead.

Forgot the third one...Runway behind you....

 

[RKDauph]

<g> Didn't forget, just not required for the Quad.

But, you're correct for manned fixed-wing aircraft.

 

[JoeDimwit]

Here's the high quality clickbait thumbnail that brought us all here. Epic, indeed!
View attachment 1144

Look! It’s the next ex-Mrs Dimwit. ?/saecasm

 

[PatR]

Here's the high quality clickbait thumbnail that brought us all here. Epic, indeed!
View attachment 1144

Anyone remember Country Joe and the Fish? Gimme an A, gimme an S,....

 

[GadgetGuy]

Anyone remember Country Joe and the Fish? Gimme an A, gimme an S,....

Indeed!

 

[PatR]

My grandson got me watching drone crashes on Utube. Some of the mistakes I noticed were do to altitude, fuel (battery voltage), and obvious inexperience............
We may call these mistakes stupid, but the reality is most of what I saw was inexperience and lack of training.

I see the issue as one endemic to the multirotor side of RC aviation. The manufacturers have gone to great pains to convince no knowledge or experience is required, anyone can fly, which totally opposes what’s required for the rest of RC aviation. So in return a great many lacking any knowledge or skill at all have flocked to multirotors to become an instant cinematic sensation. For many, the only questions they want answers to encompass the four how’s; “how far, how high, how fast, and how much”?

Reality is there are at least 4 separate fields that demand a user understand them, preferably before the first flight.

We have the general, manual flight control system where the operator must understand control functions, be able to smoothly coordinate inputs between two sticks, and direct the aircraft appropriately while maintaining orientation.

There’s the auto pilot functionality where the operator should have a basic understanding of what does what and why it does it. What does the GPS actually do and how does it influence the auto pilot? What does the compass do and how might it influence GPS? What does the baro altimeter do? What can influence the baro altimeter to generate inaccurate altitude reporting? What establishes altitude, GPS or the baro altimeter? How accurate is GPS?

Then we have batteries, something many think they can discharge and charge with abandon, only to find theirs don’t hold up very long before needing to buy more.

Leaving the least important for flight but most important for some people we have the camera. An item many seem to believe they can leave in “auto mode” and produce wonderful and stunning imagery. They fail to realize a good photographer spends years developing their skills and utilize every aspect of their photo equipment to achieve their successes.

In essence manufacturers primed the pump for the kind of lunacy we see everyday by assuring any idiot can fly one and therefore many idiots do. The mad rush to capture market share, reap maximum profits, and sell units left no room for them to project the outcome of their greed. They probably didn’t care as they were exporting all the stuff, making tomorrow someone else’s problem, not theirs.

That takes me to another old song by 10CC; Art for Art’s Sake, or AC-DC’s Money Talks.

 

[Phaedrus]

Or my fave:

Money, get away
Get a good job with good pay and you're okay
Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash…

Love me my Pink Floyd!!
Rest of it was spot on.