Bad Andy, yes the old CB Vs Ham operator. In the 70's our Ham population had a massive increase in operators, mostly from the CB fraternity. Without the CB giving us a grounding in RF properties the Ham arena would have been much more sedate than it is now. We were designing and building our own antennas, both mobile and static. It was a natural progression from a one watt walkie talkie to 200 watts PEP on 10 meters. The addition of a large increase in sunspot activity basically gave us world wide communications in between CB channels and above the recognized 27Mhs band. It was a wonderful taster for what was to come. I converted my garage into a school room and a local Ham gave us lessons. 16 of us took part and from memory 14 of us passed and attained the VK2N prefix.
Much the same thing is now happening with quadcopters. Most start off with cheap and nasty sub-$100 toys and slowly climb the ladder through the hobby quads to what generally considered the ultimate, something DJI. The number of young and not so young flyers seeking a used DJI Phantom is staggering and from many countries as well. As far as I've been able to tell, they're not newbies with plenty of money, but flyers who have reached the hobby sector and wish to have a taste of something exotic. They start off picking up a P1 or P2 for $100 to $300 and progress from there. I talk to them all the time and help them with their problems as much as possible. I'm a firm believer in "Handing it on" Many people helped me understand quadcopters and I started designing and building them, if I can help others then I'm happy.
Only last week I purchased my first new DJI craft, a Mavic Pro Platinum and 3 days later I got the goggles to go with it. I didn't buy it to take videos and photos for real estate agent or for anyone else, I got it simply to fly and experience the step up in quality and features other quads don't give you.
As for the willy wagging, believe me it's happening. Find them on YouTube and you'll find those calling the flyer above the clouds an idiot and every other name you can think of. Read the comments at the other end of the spectrum, calling the flyer a hero and a genius for doing something their toys quads can't manage. You can bet your boots many of them will be trying to do likewise, some admit it. I see the main motivation as one of money. Exactly how much someone who gets multi million views receives I wouldn't have a clue, but I'm convinced that's a great incentive. One cloud hopper states below his YouTube video he will delete anyone's comment which he doesn't like. His quadcopter did fall from the sky and he managed to put a story to his video in text which many viewers saw as exciting, it was cleverly made to keep the viewer on the edge of his seat.
That flyer knew what he did was wrong, but that didn't worry him, he certainly made enough excuses about it. He even has a supposedly qualified light plane owner and flyer tell everyone the chances of anything flying into the quad was so remote as to be of no concern. I hate to think how many flyers went out and tried flying high. They don't have to be on YouTube, they pass the videos around with friends and they then pass them on. It's definitely willy wagging and sooner or later something nasty will happen, it has to. When it does you can bet there'll be a rush to pass new laws and you can bet they won't be good news for "anyone" flying quadcopters anywhere in the world. Personally I'm glad I live in the Aussie bush, plenty of room and the land is as flat as a pool table, I can hear a plane or chopper from miles away,
