Drones, quad and octo copters

[JR1]

I am seeing more and more of these, in fact I have just bought one, however, I am getting concerned by the lack of intelligence shown by people who have them who appear to have got them as the latest "must have" gadget.

They are using them close to people and main roads, now the moors and anywhere they think they can.

1. No one with a brain will use one unless that have public liability insurance.

2. It is 100% ILLEGAL to use them and be paid anything from 1p to payments in kind unless you are CAA Certified.

http://www.eurousc.com/united-kingdom.html

I am

3. It is illegal to use them within 50m of the public


So advice to anyone thinking of just getting one for the fun, consider where you will stand if you cause injury, a road traffic accident, damage to property etc.

Just some friendly advice

[Mike Buckley]

The corollary is that if you see one as a member of the public and it is less than 50 meters away, quickly get to at least 50 meters away.

[Shadowman]

I see a lot of them (quadcopters) at public venues, they have a video camera attached and frequently fly very low over the crowds. There has been a lot of controversy about their use, especially when used near areas of heavy air traffic (mainly mercy flight pads, air traffic sites) and there has been talk about creating specific laws for quad use.

[xpatUSA]

I see a lot of them (quadcopters) at public venues, they have a video camera attached and frequently fly very low over the crowds. There has been a lot of controversy about their use, especially when used near areas of heavy air traffic (mainly mercy flight pads, air traffic sites) and there has been talk about creating specific laws for quad use.

Which is why God invented shotguns

[William W]

I am seeing more and more of these, in fact I have just bought one, however, I am getting concerned by the lack of intelligence shown by people who have them who appear to have got them as the latest "must have" gadget. . .

Good that you are concerned.

But as a comment, much MICH more societal, family and personal damage is done by 'legal use' of alcohol - and for CiC relevance - blurry pictures usually result, so my advice is don't drink and shoot.

The 'God + shotgun' comment is hilarious - I am kind of sorry that I handed in my Gun Licence.

WW

[Manfred M]

As a scuba diver, I can relate.

When diving, we are supposed to (and must in certain places) fly a "diver's down" flag and boaters are supposed to stay at least 100m / 330 ft away from it. It is supposed to provide a safe place for divers to surface, without having to worry about being run over by boaters.

There are many occasions where I have surfaced to find boaters on personal watercraft using my dive flag as a slalom target and on at least one occasion I surface to find some boaters trying to steal my dive flag. Unfortunately, there are idiots everywhere who care little about anything other than themselves.

Unfortunately, this includes some divers, boaters and RC aircraft (including drones and quad-copters) "pilots". These people end up driving the introduction of new government regulations and are probably the some of the loudest whiners about over-bearing governments regulating what they can and cannot do.

[wmoore]

Interesting.

A friend at work was out with her family visiting a local national trust home and gardens, and while having tea and cream cakes on the veranda a little man was flying his drone thingy all around the house and gardens. She did say it got rather close to them on a number of occasions. And after a while became rather annoying.

[Glenn NK]

Which is why God invented shotguns

And is why I'm not pleased that I sold mine. However (there always is a however), my son recently acquired a pretty good air rifle with a scope - I think it will work with a bit of practice. Just dreaming.

[Glenn NK]

As a scuba diver, I can relate.

When diving, we are supposed to (and must in certain places) fly a "diver's down" flag and boaters are supposed to stay at least 100m / 330 ft away from it. It is supposed to provide a safe place for divers to surface, without having to worry about being run over by boaters.

There are many occasions where I have surfaced to find boaters on personal watercraft using my dive flag as a slalom target and on at least one occasion I surface to find some boaters trying to steal my dive flag. Unfortunately, there are idiots everywhere who care little about anything other than themselves.

Unfortunately, this includes some divers, boaters and RC aircraft (including drones and quad-copters) "pilots". These people end up driving the introduction of new government regulations and are probably the some of the loudest whiners about over-bearing governments regulating what they can and cannot do.

I used to free dive (breath hold) while spear fishing. On at least one occasion, we pointed our spear guns in the general direction of an "errant" boat - I think he got the message because he never came back. Mind you a good rubber powered spear gun will fire a 5/16" x 48 inch long spear through the side of a fibreglass boat with no trouble at all (generally when you hit the bony skull of a large fish, the spear comes out the other side). The only drawback with a boat is that the spear is lost, whereas with a fish, one gets to eat it.