Safe Quad Flights Over People (without Paras)?

[R.Perry]

We are talking about flying over people, what about near people. Lets say I'm doing mapping at three hundred feet, the drone if flying 34 mph, and goes dead just prior to it's end of one leg of the mapping. It's speed and altitude could carry is some distance. I think you all get the point, you aren't overflying anyone, but if a person is withing that trajectory and gets hit, guess who is in deep do do.

 

[R.Perry]

And this is one significant weakness in the design of most current multi-rotor sUAS.

As for parachutes, the only issues I have are (a) you must have adequate altitude to deploy, and (b) once a chute is deployed the PIC's role is relegated to that of a VO.

You are correct that is a weakness of drones, however you don't need to read too many accident reports to find where aircraft have landing in populated areas and killed people. PSA flight on approach to LAX had a mid air with a Cessna 182, both planes landed in populated areas killing people on the ground.

Fixed wing and helicopters do have greater control in most cases, but not all cases.