Beware of Spinning Props!

[Duchunter]

Deadly! Really? I'll stop at mildly dangerous. There are several reasons for not flying with training wheels and when you get more than a week of flying in you will find out for yourself. The major reason is that nobody wants prop guards in their shots. Prop guards also act like sails in the wind and create a huge amount of drag. They make the quad less stable and more weight and drag means less time in the air. Most people are only near their quad at take off and landing so exposure to potential harm is very limited. The rest of the time they are 100 feet up and a thousand feet away. Not much risk of bodily harm when its 1000 feet away. If it falls from the sky into people the props are the least of their worries.

 

[Duchunter]

Prop guards are like hooks when it comes to trees. You come down on a tree and its way more likely to get hung up and stuck at the top of a tree.

 

[Peter Hartmann]

RE : BLADE GUARD issue cont:
I respectfully suggest "Monte55" examples.... opposition to a requirement for blade guards are not logical.

Of course steak knives are potentially dangerous. But I have not seen people whirling steak knives around in public areas.

Of course he is correct about the potential danger of blades on full-sized aircraft such as helios and prop. planes. He may not be familiar with the "real world" of "real" aviation - where we cannot operate these devices in an unregulated manner.

 

[blackcrusader]

Deadly! Really? I'll stop at mildly dangerous. There are several reasons for not flying with training wheels and when you get more than a week of flying in you will find out for yourself. The major reason is that nobody wants prop guards in their shots. Prop guards also act like sails in the wind and create a huge amount of drag. They make the quad less stable and more weight and drag means less time in the air. Most people are only near their quad at take off and landing so exposure to potential harm is very limited. The rest of the time they are 100 feet up and a thousand feet away. Not much risk of bodily harm when its 1000 feet away. If it falls from the sky into people the props are the least of their worries.

Who would have thought spinning blades would cut human skin and meat.

 

[macoman]

Who would have thought spinning blades would cut human skin and meat. View attachment 83001

Holy cow

 

[Peter Hartmann]

Prop guards are like hooks when it comes to trees. You come down on a tree and its way more likely to get hung up and stuck at the top of a tree.

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Very selfish attitude. Of course there can be situations where blade guards in some way reduce your pleasure with your drone.

Here's the problem with that line of reasoning. If we live in society, we have to give up the pleasure of doing whatever we want whenever we want. It is a real annoyance to me to have to stop at a stop-sign, or submit to tests for my driver's and pilot's licenses.

There are trade-offs to living where others may be present.

 

[jwmcgrath]

I really don't think the lack of using props guards qualifies users as "idiots".

And maybe the lack of them being required as mandatory is as a result of them not having been proven to be effective vs detrimental.

And maybe the decreased control over the aircraft in less than optimal conditions creates an even more dangerous condition.

People can stand on the side of the road, legally, inches from an 80,000lb tractor trailer travelling at 50mph.

Maybe people should have guards installed around them.

 

[Peter Hartmann]

bottom line - i see lots of self-centered folks who have no interest or care in what their actions may do to others.

At the rate we are going, their attitude, and what results from that, will get us regulated to a terrible extent.

 

[jwmcgrath]

I don't disagree Peter, that people not associated with a potentially dangerous activity deserve to not be threatened...

However I don't necessarily believe that mechanical protections are the end all/be all. They can lull people into complacency, when a safety minded operator is a better bet.

 

[Peter Hartmann]

- - - - -

Good point - the more "safety-minded" education, the less danger to the public. Explains why society, for example, TRIES to make the highways and airways safer thru education.

But there also has to be safety-minded regulation as to mechanical aspects. Some people dont like seat belts - but they havnt any choice - (yeah...they can just sit on em if they wish) but at least they are there for people with half-a-brain to wear, whether the "hard-cases" like it or not. Some people are inconvenienced because they cant have super-bright headlights on their cars. You want to live around other people, you have to give up something. It is that simple.

The bad news is - if we dont regulate ourselves ( obviously some in here couldnt care less about the public's rights to have guards on those whirling blades ) governments are going to do that for us. A couple of tragic examples, and all of us drone fanciers are going to be in trouble !

As others in here have pointed out, blade guards can substantially reduce the chance of injury. This is especially important since the non-drone equipped general public does not voluntarily assume the risk of harm from these things.

 

[jwmcgrath]

Not sure what this means... your post is blank at my end...

 

[Peter Hartmann]

Not sure what this means... your post is blank at my end...

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It isnt really blank - scroll onto the post i was commenting about and you will see my text - my mistake - I should have made certain my post was BELOW and not INCLUDED in the quotation.

 

[Duchunter]

First off, there are already safeguards in place. Don't fly near or over uninvolved people. If you don't fly around people then you don't hit people. If you do fly around people and put them at risk then you get arrested for reckless endangerment. There already are consequences in place. Second, i'm sure that 99% of all incidents of prop related injury involve the operator or other people involved with the flight (spotter, student pilot, spectator, ect). Most of those are probably a result of the operator doing something stupid. I cut myself doing something stupid and it was multiplied by the fact that I was using damaged props that acted like a serrated knife. I probably wouldn't have even been cut had I been using new props but I knew what I was doing was stupid and may have undesirable results so why risk good props? The point is i only put myself at risk. As long as I accept the consequences why should I be forced to use something that I feel hinders my ability to fly?

 

[Peter Hartmann]

[QUOTE=" why should I be forced to use something that I feel hinders my ability to fly? [/QUOTE]

. . . . .
Simple answer. When we give up the freedom of living isolated from other people, and live amongst others, we are forced to act in a way that does not unreasonably endanger other people.

You are not the only one who has a drone. Other people have drones. They can use them where those whirling blades can injure people who did not volunteer for that risk. The makers and sellers of items that may be used where there are other people have a duty under the law to take all reasonable steps to make sure their products are reasonably safe. It is too easy to put blade-guards on drones. The mfgs. and sellers are going to find out the hard way, the very expensive way, that failing to install guards is a bad business practice. And we responsible drone operators are going to pay for all this with higher costs and restrictive legislation.

 

[jwmcgrath]

Peter, I don't think you are wrong, in essence.

Blenders need safeguards. Lawnmowers and snowblowers have engine cutoffs they didn't have years ago, pill bottles are child resistant, baby walkers are off the market. Tide Pod containers have safety catches, can't get the lid off a spray paint can without a screwdriver.

Imagine, even Kinder Eggs are banned in the US.

I think it's that the smart people are just getting more and more fed with having to cater to the stupid people that can't govern themselves accordingly.

 

[Peter Hartmann]

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Yes - exactly ! And we who like our drones, and our present freedom to operate them, are going to loose BIG TIME thanks to the types in here who think it is "macho" to operate a drone without a blade-guard, without regard for the feelings, sensibilities, and rights of others.

 

[ftttu]

I will have permanent scars on my right forearm due to trying to save my P4 from drifting into my roof. The stock blades can and will cause serious bodily injury, but even though MOST of us know that already, accidents will continue even if you are careful.

 

[Duchunter]

I just don't see where the public is in any danger. Forced prop guards is just an asinine proposition. I'm sorry, I don't see the need. Any quad capable of doing real damage is not going to be flying around people. I'm certainty not going to fly low enough for somebody to grab my quad out of the sky. That's a flying $1000 bill. Nobody is going to let their quad get snatched out of the air.

 

[Mr. Salty]

bottom line - i see lots of self-centered folks who have no interest or care in what their actions may do to others.

At the rate we are going, their attitude, and what results from that, will get us regulated to a terrible extent.

Essentially you want to avoid forced regulations by forcing regulations. You can't have it both ways.

Blade guards are available for those who want them. My first quadcopter had them, and I kept them on while I was learning because it didn't have positioning, so they were like training wheels.

Any real drone I buy that has them, they'll be the first thing I remove.

Also, please learn to use the quote function. Some of your posts are difficult to read because your replies are buried inside the quotes.

 

[Peter Hartmann]

[QUOTE="Mr. Salty, post: 1192381, member: 77381"..........
Any real drone I buy that has them, they'll be the first thing I remove...............[/QUOTE]

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what a civic-minded attitude....