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Wired Cautions Would-Be Drone Photogs on the 4th 72

Posted by timothy from the lesson-is-to-just-build-fireworks dept.
Last year's spectacular but unauthorized you-are-there video from the inside of a fireworks display has probably inspired quite a few people to try getting their own bird's-eye view this year. Wired cautions photographers, though, that many municipalities have specifically banned (and some will be looking for) unauthorized airborne visitors, and that the FAA's guidelines for legal flight are tricky to comply with during a fireworks show. This is both because it's hard to maintain visual contact with a drone amid the dark and smoke of a show, and because of the altitude at which many commercial firework shells burst. In addition, even if a drone photo mission goes under the radar vis-a-vis local authorities, if resulting footage appears on an ad-supported site, like YouTube, the FAA may be a bit more interested than the pilot would like.
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Wired Cautions Would-Be Drone Photogs on the 4th More

Wired Cautions Would-Be Drone Photogs on the 4th

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  • Photogs? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Is that like an Apple II GS?

  • I'm all for recreational drone use but... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by burtosis ( 1124179 ) on Saturday July 04, 2015 @09:08AM (#50043319)
    Jackasses seem to keep ruining it for everyone. For example i was at an art show and it was pretty packed, some jackass drone operation was flying a larger model, around 4kg / 10 lbs or so, up and down the isles probably 15 feet over people's heads. It was large enough that a simple slip up, if not outright killing someone would have caused a few trips to the ER. It's that kind of jackassery that ruins it for everyone. It's finally starting to be a greater danger to be injured by an idiot teenager looking for some hits on his youtube channel than being hit by a stray firework.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Gravis Zero ( 934156 )

      Jackasses seem to keep ruining it for everyone. For example i was at an art show and it was pretty packed, some jackass drone operation was flying a larger model, around 4kg / 10 lbs or so, up and down the isles probably 15 feet over people's heads. It was large enough that a simple slip up, if not outright killing someone would have caused a few trips to the ER. It's that kind of jackassery that ruins it for everyone.

      It's finally starting to be a greater danger to be injured by an idiot teenager looking for some hits on his youtube channel than being hit by a stray firework.

      it is unlikely to be a teenager because large drones are very expensive. i find it more likely that an overconfident adult is going to hurt someone. but hey... i think there are some kids on your lawn, right over there!

      • Maybe a teenager with a very lenient and accommodating parent. I know one family that can barely pay rent, and they just bought a $2000+ computer so the kid can record his xbox gaming action and put the videos up on youtube. His old computer was doing it, but was 'too slow' for the kid's liking.

      • Jackasses seem to keep ruining it for everyone. For example i was at an art show and it was pretty packed, some jackass drone operation was flying a larger model, around 4kg / 10 lbs or so, up and down the isles probably 15 feet over people's heads. It was large enough that a simple slip up, if not outright killing someone would have caused a few trips to the ER. It's that kind of jackassery that ruins it for everyone.

        It's finally starting to be a greater danger to be injured by an idiot teenager looking for some hits on his youtube channel than being hit by a stray firework.

        it is unlikely to be a teenager because large drones are very expensive. i find it more likely that an overconfident adult is going to hurt someone. but hey... i think there are some kids on your lawn, right over there!

        It depends in where you live. Not far from here there are plenty of idiot teenagers that have affluenza. Although it is rather redundant to say idiot and teenager. Certainly I was an idiot at that age it's to be expected.

      • It's an art show. The drone was probably part of a performance art piece.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Lumpy ( 12016 )

        Considering teens around here have their parents buy them $15,000 to $50,000 cars for their 16th birthday, a dirt cheap $3000 toy is nothing.

    • Re:I'm all for recreational drone use but... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by NostalgiaForInfinity ( 4001831 ) on Saturday July 04, 2015 @09:28AM (#50043379)

      How is that "ruining it for everybody"? What does that have to do with the FAA? The art show was private property, and the property owner could have and should have stopped the use of the drone.

      What's "ruining it for everybody" is that knee jerk reactions like yours based on local incidents cause politicians and regulators to pass knee jerk regulations that apply uniformly across the country, regardless of local circumstance, and give police another excuse to stop and hassle people.

      • It was city property with a permit for the show. It was being done illegally and obviously with little oversight. If you can't understand the danger of flying an upside down lawnmower with no safety guards over a crowd of people, which by the way is against the current FAA regulations, then you are part of the problem.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by plover ( 150551 )

          How about handing a friend a video camera, and you with a fishing net on a long pole. Show it flying unsafely, take it down on video, and hand the footage to the cops telling them you feared for your family's safety.

          • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

            by KGIII ( 973947 )

            You carry odd stuff to an art show.

            • Re: (Score:3)

              by plover ( 150551 )

              Apparently you've never been to the Uptown Art Fair [uptownartfair.com]. A fishing net and a long pole would barely make the top third of the "weird shit you'll see in Uptown" list. :-)

              • Re: (Score:1)

                by KGIII ( 973947 )

                I have not. However, I now want to go to an art fest and carry a giant net. I do think it is a bit unreasonable to need to carry one around because people will not behave civilly with their RCs. It is a shame, really. A lot of innocent people are going to have their hobby trashed by people who do not care. It is not my hobby but I would hate to see draconian restrictions in place because people can not obey the current regulations or be civil.

          • The answer to problems like this is a realistic way to respond that's already achieved mainstream acceptance. The fact that you would have to take matters into your own hands it more than depressing it can cause situations to escalate and then even more crackdowns and restrictive laws could put in place. Or you could even find yourself in trouble for doing nothing wrong. It would be nice if all you had to do was call police and they had the wherewithal to do something rather than be totally incompetent.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by plover ( 150551 )

              Realistically, yes, I'd call the cops quickly if someone was buzzing the crowd unsafely with a quadcopter. And cops are not totally incompetent - it's usually not that hard to spot an R/C operator (presuming the operator is flying within line-of-sight.)

              But if the opportunity presented itself, I'd probably throw a jacket or other object at the stupid thing, and if by some random chance it actually came down, I'd probably stomp the shit out of it. I have no tolerance or respect for people threatening my saf

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • Ok drop a 5-6 pound / 2.2-2.5kg weight from 15 feet or 5 meters on to average people and see what happens. Chances are you will injure people pretty badly even with light weight crumple style construction. Get an unlucky toss at someone with a pre existing condition and it can cause death.

            Further its bullshit that larger propellers cannot cause substantial lacerations. You don't need nearly any strength when the blade tips are traveling at full speeds which can be several hundred miles per hour. A
          • I think you're understating the reality of the situation. Drones come in many sizes with different attributes regarding prop blades, I think you'll agree that as the size/power of drones increases, the danger of an injury like a cut increases (see examples of cuts in news: Enrigue Iglesias cut hand, TGI Friday's drone chopped tip of reporters nose off). Furthermore, even on the low end the ability to damage an eye is significant and should not be discounted.

            Now, let's talk about a 6lb object falling 15

          • Well that's a load of mis-information for a start.

            An increasing number of multirotors are using carbon-fiber propellers which are quite strong in all directions and even the small plastic ones can draw blood. Check out this video [youtube.com] at 4:26... and we're talking about very small (just over 1lb) craft with tiny (5-inch) plastic propellers.

        • If you can't understand the danger of flying an upside down lawnmower with no safety guards over a crowd of people, which by the way is against the current FAA regulations

          I didn't say that it wasn't dangerous nor that drones should be permitted to fly anytime anywhere.

          I pointed out that your your statement of "jackasses seem to keep ruining it for everyone" makes no sense. That phrase implies that an activity becomes illegal even for people who would use it responsibly because a few people are doing someth

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rioki ( 1328185 )

        Actually the FAA has something to say about it, since airspace starts at ground level. If you happen to live "in" B, C or D airspace, you would not be allowed to fly a drone in your back yard hovering at eye level. B, C or D airspace normally extends 4 nautical miles around a towered airport, from surface to 1500 above ground. You can check your airspace at http://skyvector.com/ [skyvector.com]; everywhere where there is a blue or purple circle with SFC as the lower number, no drone flying.

    • I can't comment on operator demographics; but it's worth noting that even the fairly small drones(if the propellors are unshrouded or improperly shrouded) can fuck you up surprisingly well.

      I imagine that one or two of us here may have had the misfortune of accidentally sticking a finger into an active case/CPU fan at some point. The zestier 80mm, and most of the 120s, will draw blood and possibly take a nail off without much trouble(though they might throw a blade doing so, and then tear their bearings a

      • Observe that those sorts of fans are too feeble to lift off. The same is not true of drone propellors. They can, and will, give you a pretty decent slashing.

        The reason that 120mm fans are more dangerous than 80mm fans even though they tend to rotate more slowly is their rotating mass. The mass of quadcopter props tends to be minuscule, so I doubt they're any more dangerous than cooling fans.

        I'm more worried about taking a drone moving at full speed to the face, or the neck.

    • I agree, if a drone is being used inappropriately. The operator should be punished justly for the amount of danger he is causing.

    • Jackasses seem to keep ruining it for everyone.

      yes, just like slashdot. when I clicked on the title to read this story, it just collapsed the summary. I literally had no way to get into this story without middle-clicking the title to open it in a new tab.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      And that is the problem. You dont have to have any IQ at all to own and operate a quadracopter like that. Only need a checkbook or credit card.

      Honestly, I think they need undercover cops to walk around and just taze the hell out of drone owners that do that crap. No warning, just a tazer to the balls for 5 minutes and then say, "Stop being an asshole, have a nice day."

  • And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
    Gave proof through the night that our drone was still there.

    seems simple enough to me. :)

  • These headlines get harder to decipher all the time.

    Maybe drop the all caps, or something? There are at least 5 ways I can read this and none of them make sense to me.

    • These headlines get harder to decipher all the time.

      Maybe drop the all caps, or something?

      i have some bad news about newspaper titles and proper noun for you.

      There are at least 5 ways I can read this and none of them make sense to me.

      you should ask someone to drive you to the hospital because you have suffered a serious head injury. nobody can be that stupid and not be suffering from a head injury.

      • i have some bad news about newspaper titles and proper noun for you.

        The bad news is that it's a stupid idea and no-one should be doing it. "Everyone else does it" is not a decent justification for continuing the out-dated and pointless tradition of title case headlines. The good news is that more and more people seem to be eschewing it these days.

        Putting the names of publications like Wired in italics would also have been a great help in this case, but knowing Slashdot that kind of thing would take six months of behind-the-scenes testing, followed by a day of actual use dur

  • Daytime only operations (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The article misses the first restriction.

    No flying after official sunset.

    Last time I checked, freworks are generally done when it's dark.

    • Last time I checked, freworks are generally done when it's dark.

      preposterous! if they waited until it was dark how would you see the fireworks?!

  • They won't catch me (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    They won't catch me; I run my drone via seven proxies and Tor too. Damn MPFAA!

  • Operators seemed to be much more polite. It is possible that the military co-opting of the word, "drone," followed by civilian adoption of it has led to a change in operational attitudes.

    • Back when you called them model airplanes they were expensive and you usually had to build them. These days everything's RTR and moreover usually quite inexpensive, at least by comparison.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Hasaf ( 3744357 )

        Of course there is some truth to that. I had to take my Amateur radio exam to get a transmitter license (yes, there were low powered unlicensed transmitters).

        Further, it was a club activity with very strong social norms, those norms evaporate, or fail to get instilled, with the solitary use of the "drones."

        Possibly it is time to start looking at licensing fly-toys. With the rash of irresponsible behaviour it is coming, it is just a matter of when.

        • Possibly it is time to start looking at licensing fly-toys.

          I've suggested before that models capable of illegal flight (basically anything with 500' or more range) should carry a transponder. That would let people keep their kiddy-grade drones that represent little threat to anyone, and also help provide a framework within which more serious hobbyists could operate their drones outside of current legal limits.

    • Operators seemed to be much more polite. It is possible that the military co-opting of the word, "drone," followed by civilian adoption of it has led to a change in operational attitudes.

      Did you hover your model airplanes over big crowds of people?

  • This is one case ... (Score:3)

    by PPH ( 736903 ) on Saturday July 04, 2015 @10:50AM (#50043619)

    ... where, given a few precautions, I'd say, "Go ahead. Fly your drone." Sure, I don't want drone parts falling on spectators. But our public fireworks display is held over a lake.

    Drones will give me an opportunity to test my proximity-fused skyrocket.

    • Drones will give me an opportunity to test my proximity-fused skyrocket.

      Drones will give me an opportunity to test my flechette minigun.

  • Line of sight at night (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    There is so much dis-information here I do not know where to begin.

    Most small quads and UAVs (drones are things that use Hellfire missiles to kill enemy combatants, and I do NOT fly one of those) have very bright LED lights on them. It is easier to see them at night because of the lights that in daytime very often, so the comment that is it harder to maintain line of sight at night is completely, 100% in error. Speaking from experience, which i think, the author of the original article does not have.

    Also

    • Yes exactly. And there is no system that actually regulates the existing rules well and that causes many many problems.
  • Increasing numbers of places - sports stadia, school plays and the like - ban video recording of the action. Sometimes the excuse is "don't you dare think of the children". Other times the more honest line is "we are filming it ourselves and you can buy the video for $ XXX." But in either case, finding a video of the event on YouTube is likely to result in a phone call to the land sharks.

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