Flying Above Crowds!

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This morning at the Concours d'Lemons (Seaside, California), where many hundreds of people and over 100 motor vehicles had gathered in a fairly small city park, low and behold someone flew a Phantom overhead!!

The buzzing noise seemed to distract a lot of people in the park.

Does anyone think that flying a drone like that is a Good Practice?
 
Yes if it's me or mal. No for anyone else :lol:
 
Flying over crowds is fun.
 
BigBadFun said:
Flying over crowds is fun.

It sounds dangerous to me. The Phantom could do someone some serious damage if it crashes. In all seriousness, I don't see anything "fun" about that. Your public liability insurance (which I hope you have) probably wouldn't cover you if you deliberately flew in a dangerous environment like that.
 
HarryT said:
BigBadFun said:
Flying over crowds is fun.

It sounds dangerous to me. The Phantom could do someone some serious damage if it crashes. What do you consider to be "fun" about that?

Insurance, experience and reliability. :lol:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aX8MQTbdN0[/youtube]
 
UrAwFuL said:
Insurance, experience and reliability. :lol:

Would your insurance really cover you if you deliberately chose to fly over a crowd? I don't know what the rules are in the US, but in the UK it's illegal to fly within 50m (150') of people or buildings, and your insurance won't cover you if you break the rules.
 
Geert said:
I never done this but I can imagine it is fun.
Probably a lot of people will say it is dangerous and you can hurt people. Well, that is true. But not flying over people can also be dangerous.
If you don't want anything to happen then lock your Phantom in a safe where it is SAFE.

With the greatest respect, I think it's attitudes like this that can really damage our hobby. We all know that Phantoms can and do go out of control, and it seems crazy to me to fly in places where there's a very real risk of hurting people if you do lose control. Surely it's common sense to try to minimise risk, isn't it?
 
I fly over events (concerts) but not directly over crowds. I get promoters', bands', venues' and local authorities permission when I do
-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYUXsy1 ... mTn85kuX4y

To OP - be very careful flying over car events - usually tons of GoPros and all it takes is 1 GoPro remote control (If flying P1 or P2) to take it down.
 
EMCSQUAR said:
...To OP - be very careful flying over car events - usually tons of GoPros and all it takes is 1 GoPro remote control (If flying P1 or P2) to take it down.

I think the OP observed someone flying over the crowd. He wasn't the pilot. That is why he created this thread.
 
Danielhv said:
If something were to happen, it would be bad publicity for our hobby.

Might have your *** in a sling if it hurt someone also. We've all seen the video were the guy tried to catch his Phantom and ended up getting cut by the blades pretty bad. Now picture the same thing happening in a crowd of people. In this day and age they would be coming to lynch you
 
Well, at least it was the Concours d'Lemons. A drone denting the Faster Farms Belvedere might just give it even more character (if that were possible). And if the "chief perp" was there, knowing him, he would take any bulls**t for about 3/10ths of a second before he shuts it down right quick. He deals with numerous safety issues on a regular basis.
 
Usually I try and stay away from conversations like this but the idea of a quad falling into a crowd as a plot for a movie, like chainsaw massacre, I picture the evil bad guy who has outfitted his device with razors and other cutting stabbing things and he flies through the crowd cutting heads off. Then he chases the partially clothed young blond girl around until she falls on the ground and the quad, (in this case is "Drone" finally correct) continues to attack her. Who would pay good money to see a really bad movie like this?
 
Even if you have insurance-liability coverage, such a policy might require you to not fly near others--that is, keep a minimum distance.

I saw another Phantom--perhaps the same one--fly over the next day at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where thousands of people were on the field where motor vehicles worth untold millions were on display. In the case of Pebble Beach, I observed the Phantom flying mostly over water.
 
I saw a Phantom video mostly over crowds in different locations, beach, boardwalk, street event, etc and its interesting to see how some people react, and several times someone in a crowd would throw something at the drone, actually a waste of a good beer. But it is at a risk.
 
ussvertigo said:
I saw a Phantom video mostly over crowds in different locations, beach, boardwalk, street event, etc and its interesting to see how some people react, and several times someone in a crowd would throw something at the drone, actually a waste of a good beer. But it is at a risk.

Sees drone in air > throws item in air to knock it down > drone is knocked out and causes damage > news coverage.

Logic? :?
 
There is certainly a degree of risk involved in flying over people, and flying in general. But there are nearly 100,000 commercial flights across the world each and every day, not counting military and private flights. While it would certainly be an unpleasant and potentially fatal experience should a Phantom happen to fall on your head, how does the potential damage compare to that of the 100,000+ aircraft flying over crowds each and every day? To cause injury the Phantom would have to strike you directly. Compare that to the potential damage caused by a 300 ton aircraft loaded with 200,000 gallons of fuel.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lksDISvCmNI[/youtube]
 
Yep I was flying around a school one evening and there were people on the basketball court... I was a good 70 feet up and off to the side of the court. One of the people playing threw a basket ball at my quad. Of course he was no where near able to get close, but still. Kinda disrespectful.
 

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