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10 kilo drones? Man, I have 1 kilo machines and they are huge and (very)expensive and everywhere I go people say it is the first time they see such a monster.

10 kilo drones? Man, I have 1 kilo machines and they are huge and (very)expensive and everywhere I go people say it is the first time they see such a monster. What this pilot saw was probably a 120 grams toy that an aircraft engine could eat for breakfast(engines are tested for much bigger birds impact). It is an expensive repair but to say that the plane goes "near miss" is a gross exaggeration(You near miss another plane, like a Cessna). With 10 kilos we are talking about professional machines, with hybrid power source, military or highly professional. Probably they are 10 of those in all UK. We need drone regulation, today it is in limbo. Professional services also have to be legalized and regulated(they are not but people are using them anyway for movies, for electrical grid control, they are so useful). They don't want to because those machines compete with helicopters and planes at aerial jobs but much cheaper and without pilot's risk of dying. Flying 1kg in the air is much safer than flying 600kilos machines. If the thing crashes, which is really difficult now with GPS and automatic control, you lose 1000, 2000 dollars, not a life. Helicopters are very dangerous near the ground, if something goes wrong, like a gust of wind you are dead. So you need to get high enough, which means using big and expensive camera gear. With a drone it is so much simple.

nakedrobot2 12y ago
The DJI Phantom is 2 kilos, and it is small. What is this 1 kilo monster you speak of?
- mbrameld 12y ago
  Here's a pretty popular one that weighs about 500g ready to fly: http://www.getfpv.com/qav250-mini-fpv-quadcopter-rtf-carbon-fiber-edition.html http://www.getfpv.com/qav250-mini-fpv-quadcopter-rtf-carbon-...
- robhu 12y ago
  The Phantom 2 is 1000g including battery and propellers[1]. Is the Phantom 1 really twice as heavy? [1] http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-2/spec http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-2/spec
objclxt 12y ago
> "Flying 1kg in the air is much safer than flying 600kilos machines. If the thing crashes [...] you lose 1000, 2000 dollars, not a life. If you're flying a drone in an urban area then no, that's not true. There's a reason helmets are mandatory on construction sites: a 1kg object heading at speed towards your head has the potential for serious injury. You seem to have assumed the only loss when a drone crashes is the cost of the machine itself, but you're forgetting you'll be liable for any other damage you cause. Requiring drone operators to have insurance (which I bet you don't have) seems like a good first step. We require it for cars, why not drones?
- burke 12y ago
  > a 1kg object heading at speed towards your head has the potential for serious injury. I'm not sure sure about this. Most drones are made of such low-density material (and obviously have some large aerodynamic components) that I have a hard time buying it could cause much injury even if it fell at terminal velocity onto someone's head.
  - apapli 12y ago
    I've been flying RC planes for years, and have seen many really bad injuries because people don't consider a plastic propeller spinning at a few thousand RPM "dangerous". Most people don't think of drones (quad copters etc) as essentially flying lawnmowers. If you find yourself at the wrong end of a prop I can assure you that your opinion will change. The weight of them is probably the least important factor when it comes to safety.
    - bigiain 12y ago
      I've hit myself with my own 5" and 6" plastic props on my ~400g class quadcopters with ~120W motors (several times actually), and it _hurts_, but I haven't "injured myself" (though I have no doubt a mother of a small ch9ild I hit would view that differently even with identical results - a few red marks and a bloodstream full of adrenaline). I have a _great_ deal of respect/fear of friends 12 and 14" carbon fiber props with ~2000W motors spinning them. One friends main machine is arguable 8 flying lawnmowers strapped together, with all the blade guards removed. And I fear that uneducated or uncaring owners of that second class of "unambiguously dangerous machines" are reasonably likely to impact my enjoyment of the sub 500g class machines. The "drones bad" meme is already affecting people who fly ~300g gliders - a lot of people flying F3K handlaunch gliders are getting booted out of various parks (including, I believe, all US Federal National Parks?). These things literally weigh 50% less than a football or only 50% more than a Frisbee, and - and have the added safety of being under active control by the pilot (who _really_ doen't want to hit anyone with his expensive and delicate toy).
neurotech1 12y ago
I agree with your point about helicopters flying low. As I recall at least one fatally crashed while filming and the film crew couldn't get permission from the FAA to use a UAV. That said; A 1-2Kg UAV can easily do expensive damage to an aircraft if a collision occurs, in addition to the obvious safety risks. Of course, the result is little different from a bird doing similar damage.

nakedrobot2 12y ago

The DJI Phantom is 2 kilos, and it is small. What is this 1 kilo monster you speak of?

mbrameld 12y ago
Here's a pretty popular one that weighs about 500g ready to fly: http://www.getfpv.com/qav250-mini-fpv-quadcopter-rtf-carbon-fiber-edition.html http://www.getfpv.com/qav250-mini-fpv-quadcopter-rtf-carbon-...
robhu 12y ago
The Phantom 2 is 1000g including battery and propellers[1]. Is the Phantom 1 really twice as heavy? [1] http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-2/spec http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-2/spec

objclxt 12y ago

> "Flying 1kg in the air is much safer than flying 600kilos machines. If the thing crashes [...] you lose 1000, 2000 dollars, not a life. If you're flying a drone in an urban area then no, that's not true. There's a reason helmets are mandatory on construction sites: a 1kg object heading at speed towards your head has the potential for serious injury. You seem to have assumed the only loss when a drone crashes is the cost of the machine itself, but you're forgetting you'll be liable for any other damage you cause. Requiring drone operators to have insurance (which I bet you don't have) seems like a good first step. We require it for cars, why not drones?

burke 12y ago
> a 1kg object heading at speed towards your head has the potential for serious injury. I'm not sure sure about this. Most drones are made of such low-density material (and obviously have some large aerodynamic components) that I have a hard time buying it could cause much injury even if it fell at terminal velocity onto someone's head.
- apapli 12y ago
  I've been flying RC planes for years, and have seen many really bad injuries because people don't consider a plastic propeller spinning at a few thousand RPM "dangerous". Most people don't think of drones (quad copters etc) as essentially flying lawnmowers. If you find yourself at the wrong end of a prop I can assure you that your opinion will change. The weight of them is probably the least important factor when it comes to safety.
  - bigiain 12y ago
    I've hit myself with my own 5" and 6" plastic props on my ~400g class quadcopters with ~120W motors (several times actually), and it _hurts_, but I haven't "injured myself" (though I have no doubt a mother of a small ch9ild I hit would view that differently even with identical results - a few red marks and a bloodstream full of adrenaline). I have a _great_ deal of respect/fear of friends 12 and 14" carbon fiber props with ~2000W motors spinning them. One friends main machine is arguable 8 flying lawnmowers strapped together, with all the blade guards removed. And I fear that uneducated or uncaring owners of that second class of "unambiguously dangerous machines" are reasonably likely to impact my enjoyment of the sub 500g class machines. The "drones bad" meme is already affecting people who fly ~300g gliders - a lot of people flying F3K handlaunch gliders are getting booted out of various parks (including, I believe, all US Federal National Parks?). These things literally weigh 50% less than a football or only 50% more than a Frisbee, and - and have the added safety of being under active control by the pilot (who _really_ doen't want to hit anyone with his expensive and delicate toy).

neurotech1 12y ago

I agree with your point about helicopters flying low. As I recall at least one fatally crashed while filming and the film crew couldn't get permission from the FAA to use a UAV. That said; A 1-2Kg UAV can easily do expensive damage to an aircraft if a collision occurs, in addition to the obvious safety risks. Of course, the result is little different from a bird doing similar damage.