'BAD' flying debate

[flybywire]

Thought I';d join the debate about general bad publicity and image of the hobby in general (you can tell I';m bored!)
It';s not something I like to think about too much, but if you hang around in forums like this, you';re bound to see it come up increasingly more often, particularly with the prolific sales of craft like DJI';s ';Phantom'; et-al.  I';ve absolutely nothing against ready to fly stuff at all, in fact I think what dji have done is pretty remarkable really, to turn what was basically a nerdy and ';black art'; field into an ';out of the box and in to the air  in 30 minutes'; concept.  One which by all accounts works for the most, most of the time.  It has also had the effect of pumping many thousands of pounds into their R&D facility, and one would hope, make all DJI gear (and that of other manufacturers too) become more ';bullet proof'; as time goes by, which is great.

The problem is, (as I see it anyhow), that if Joe Public get ';toys'; like this, which basically short circuit the learning curve of building/testing/flying/gaining wisdom & experience which all help to avoid accidents, then it';s going to end badly. 
When I saw this post of a guy getting raggy with a phantom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=n3icOejm62k it ****** me off, because not only had he failed to read the firmware release notes, but he decided that testing out a major new firmware release over his neighbour';s houses was in some way acceptable.  Then blamed DJI for everything. 
As for so called ';pro';s causing accidents, I thought licensing was supposed to take care of that?  If not, what';s it all for?
As I say, this is just a hobby for me, albeit an all consuming one at times, I don';t make a living from it in any way, and don';t want to have to wade through technical theory tests because some Youtube ';expert'; has damned it for the rest of us.

So, if you';ve made it through my diatribe so far, what';s your opinion?  What do you think needs to be done (or could be done?) to make things more workable.  I must say, given the idiocy of both government & Joe Public, I';m not hopeful

Andy.

N.B when I use the word ';toys';, I';m of course referring to highly sophisticated GPS/microprocessor controlled semi autonomous craft!

Edit:  I';ve had thoughts on way home...stay out in the countryside, and don';t scare the **** out of Joe Public, simples!

 

[flybywire]

Just for the record, I don';t want to come across as some kind of paragon of virtue here, I';ve done stuff in the past which on hindsight was clearly questionable, but I don';t think I';ve ever done anything blatantly dangerous with model aeroplanes.  I hover it in the back yard, very occasionally, which I think is technically breaking the law, but I make a considered judgement as do most of you guys, common sense really.

[XamaX]

I love common sense.....

A thought provoking post which will be relevant to some RC fliers and not so to others. But as a member of society we are all ultimately affected by it (I mean if I saw someone flying dangerously I would certainly voice my concern).

Judging by the amount of replies, I guess you are not the only one who "has a little hover in the garden to see how if it works".   ;D
Common sense is indeed the key here...I do think that advertising ones crashes/near misses/ disregard for common sense is pretty silly and if you care about this hobby/sport/profession then you would be daft to do so.

I would love to look at the instruction manual in the Phantom box-I might see if there is one on line somewhere.
Fly safe all.

Now I am sure that I have left that common sense around here somewhere?

[guest325]

Common sense is the main thing, adhering strictly to the letter of the law is preferred but the odd occasion arises where if the rules are bent slightly provided it is in a responsible manner then it may be acceptable,  for example a few months ago I wanted to test my quad on 4S - it was a lot more convenient to try it out in the street; bearing it in mind I live in a very quiet cul de sac, there was no one about and I had a spotter I don';t think what I did was irresponsible.
One of the things I see that bothers me is seeing obviously irresponsible things on YouTube, I will include with this video of injuries caused by models and improper use with the occasional occurrence of the injured person making light of their injuries. None of these sort of things are doing the hobby any favours, people seeing them who are not involved or do not understand the ins and outs of what we do will surely look on them in a dim light and perhaps develop a prejudice against it.
If you are in any doubt about what you want to make public then the simple answer is don';t, it may not be just you who will regret it!

[kilby]

Also there';s multiple types of bad flying (for want of a better term)

There';s the obvious flying in the wrong place or in an foolish manner (often beyond the pilots capability)

However there are also the I don';t know what I';m doing and I';m not going to read the manual, so even if they did fly in a sensible place (which they don';t) something bad will happen.

When I decided u was interested in a quad I found a couple if those idiots blaming dji for their own stupidity.

The first type are bad for us, but would probably end up accepting their own stupidity.

The other lot will hire lawyers and blame the equipment, those guys will probably cause the real issues.

Just my tuppence in the subject

[Tony Campbell]

Unfortunately, humans will be humans. Every now and again, we';ll all do something that with hindsight, is a little daft. The difference between a major life threatening incident and that little daft thing, is often just plain luck. So, just because we all like to tut tut at some of these (arguably stupid) incidents whilst wearing our halos, just remember, on an occasion, all of us will run out of luck. I';m not trying to ';ok'; bad flying practices, just trying to bring a little perspective as to how these situations might arise. Sure, there is always going to be the extreme case where a complete and utter idiot causes a major issue, but these type of people tend to do it on a daily basis, whether it be whilst they are driving, letting off fireworks, letting their dog off the lead in a public place or not taking responsibility for their unruly offspring. You cant do anything about them. Fortunately, safe flying generally happens more often than unsafe, so lets keep enjoying our hobby and hope we all keep being ';lucky'; 

[kilby]

If you make a mistake you try to learn from it, sometimes you don';t know any better sometimes you don';t think things through.

But there are those who are never wrong (I work with two of them) however here';s a YouTube one and the problems where pretty obvious before I even owned a quad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3xxM0sdzg0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I have the feeling these type are the most dangerous as they don';t learn

[Hands0n]

Good heavens! That second video was scary    The pilot claims to be a professional but even by my own standards that was some freaky flying.  It seemed out of control from the moment it took off. But is he saying that he had control until the last moment - which looks like when the battery gave up the ghost, which also suggests that he didn';t set up the Naza';s power monitoring that would have caused an orderly landing once the battery charge dropped to a particular level.

I am loathe to be some sanctimonious pilot - I';ve flown plenty of times at low level in my own garden in a built up area, so I';m not one to comment too much. But this kind of apparently deliberate flying strikes me as downright dangerous and irresponsible.

In general terms, the definition of "bad flying" as per the title of this thread rather depends on the spectator.  If someone thinks that you are flying badly then you probably are, despite any self notion of your own skills. So the onus seems to be on us not to convey such an image about what we are doing in particular, and the hobby in general.

I tend to think that when we are flying our aircraft we should, to the general public, either be invisible or appreciated. 

[flybywire]

Wow!  Got to 6:59, couldn';t watch any more!  That cable flailing about in the wind, those awful wrenching manouvers, and all played out above an unsuspecting public, the guy still manages to blame dji.
Still at least most of the comments were critical of him as an individual, not the hobby as a whole, just hope Joe public doesn';t tar us all with the same brush, my word!

[XH558]

I think this whole issue comes down to where we are now in society - what';s expected and what';s available ...

I call it the NOW generation ... everything must happen NOW - it must be available NOW - I must be able to access it NOW - Use it NOW - Play with it NOW - - Have it NOW ..... shall I go on ......

When I was a young tacker you bought a kit and you went home and spent a week building it .. learning ... getting better ....understanding ... improving ... then you flew it ... if you were lucky it flew - but if it didn';t you';d go back and improve it ... learn ... understand .... etc etc

Nowadays  a youngster is used to his/her every need being assuaged instantly ... so there is an expectation that you open the box - lift out the contents - turn it on - and fly ... like it says it will .....there';s no interest in why it does - how it does ... so if it doesn';t that';s the end of it and it';ll probably end up not being used again ....

No one has any patience any more - everything has to be instant and the market place has risen to that -  of late RTF and ARTF has just exploded - I';ve even succumbed myself ... but what I do is use the technology and make it better ... example ..... who in their right mind would try to fly a scale Spitfire - a low wing monoplane - as their first model ... hard to fly at best ... add a Spitfire';s short nose and that just adds to the fun ... so the GWS foamy parkflyer Spitfire was born for the masses and I bet there';s no end in wheely bins up and down the country. But if you know what you are doing you chop off the nose - add an extra inch of foam and glue it back on - you glass the underneath for strength - convert it to brushless with Lipo - and you have a lovely flyable model ....

I am so glad I was born when I was   ....  I love this hobby because I understand it .... and I can fettle it to work for me not against me 

[Hands0n]

I am so glad I was born when I was   ....  I love this hobby because I understand it .... and I can fettle it to work for me not against me 

Amen to that.

[QuadBod]

Ouch! That was horrible to watch, and only goes to reinforce my argument that RTF multi-rotors in the wrong hands only stand to damage our hobby. What it did show me though was how rock-solid the DJI gear is, even in the face of an idiot at the controls. Kicking myself even more for missing the group-buy!  (Don';t suppose we can pull off another one?  )

[Ross]

Stupid on two counts...the second was trespass!

[kilby]

Ouch! That was horrible to watch, and only goes to reinforce my argument that RTF multi-rotors in the wrong hands only stand to damage our hobby. What it did show me though was how rock-solid the DJI gear is, even in the face of an idiot at the controls. Kicking myself even more for missing the group-buy!  (Don';t suppose we can pull off another one?  )

But if he had assembled the parts and flown it he would still be an idiot.

One of my worries is that if it had ended up in a newspaper or TV report, it would have been a "Chinese Company Sells Faulty Product" headline as that';s what all the reporter would have heard.

In court his solicitors would have taken his part and blamed DJI.

The next step would would be a ban on all machines with flight controllers as they';re obviously unsafe.

[Grey Area]

I';m a new flyer. I';ve bought gear that it probably too powerful for me, and no, I didn';t build it.

But I fly in big flat fields. My rules are no people, no animals and preferably, no trees. I broke rule three (trees) and as a result a tree broke my quad.

That';s a lie.

_I_ broke my quad. I';ve built it again now. Still don';t pretend to know how it works in detail, but I';ve learned one major lesson; if the quad is behaving a bit funky, land and go home. Redo the calibration. Ask questions on forums. Learn. Don';t go out again until I at least think I know why it was happening.

If I have one regret it that I didn';t (couldn';t) spend more money on a decent transmitter. I';m gaining the opinion that the one I';ve got is distinctly "budget"...in the worst way.

I don';t think I will EVER have enough confidence to fly around people or animals. And trees are bloody sneaky.

[kilby]

I';m a newish flyer too, and one of those evil trees tries to sneak up on me today too

[guest325]

Those model magnets seem to jump out on you from nowhere  ::)  ::)  ::)