 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Belle mise en scène....
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Providing this wasn't staged, and I don't think so given Herr Gopro is not a native English speaker.....
These two idiots got exactly what they deserved, recklessly flying a drone like that just proves that some people have no common sense at all or know that they are flying something potentially dangerous. In fact there is enough evidence on the gopro to have them found guilty of breaking French laws on drone flying. I would have rung the gendarmes from near the lift and hoped they then got on it so it could be stopped until Les Flics arrived.
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Some high profile prosecutions of drone flyers are surely overdue?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@pam w, agree 100%. Was only talking about this yesterday.
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| chocksaway wrote: |
Providing this wasn't staged, and I don't think so given Herr Gopro is not a native English speaker.....
These two idiots got exactly what they deserved, recklessly flying a drone like that just proves that some people have no common sense at all or know that they are flying something potentially dangerous. In fact there is enough evidence on the gopro to have them found guilty of breaking French laws on drone flying. I would have rung the gendarmes from near the lift and hoped they then got on it so it could be stopped until Les Flics arrived. |
+1
Herr GoPro does have a fine command of English swear words, me thinks the see you next Tuesdays got off lightly.
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Google translate gives 'The angry Frenchman forcibly brought the aircraft back to the ground with his ski pole and missed the tourists an enema.' 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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back bottoms. Well done to him for not just letting these clowns endanger his safety and get away with it.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Douchebaggery goes two ways here IMO. Kids were dumb and flying it like that was reckless - dude has every right to make his opinion strongly felt. Deliberately destroying >£1000 of kit (and then trying to stamp on it) belonging to two teenagers (= likely can't easily replace it) once they've accepted the point and are bringing it back in to land is just petulant spite.
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| Quote: |
Deliberately destroying >£1000 of kit (and then trying to stamp on it) belonging to two teenagers
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Surely deploying such equipment in such a foolish and probably illegal way (To have a remote controlled aircraft within 50m of people in the UK is illegal - I do not know about France). The teenagers were lucky not to get a criminal record and a much higher fine. He has done them a favour.
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You know it makes sense.
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The average hobby drone is pretty useless up a mountain. Thinner air means the blades have to work that much harder and the battery life is really short. All that effort of carrying the thing for probably just a few minutes of effective flight. And they still can't do collision detection (the Holy Grail of drone AI). The sort of drones used for TV and cinema photography cost upwards of £10K-20K and even then, have you carrying 'round a tonne of batteries to keep it going. And they still have software glitches from time to time. I have one myself, but I only ever use it for family events etc., with no one else in the vicinity, and I certainly wouldn't take it skiing.
I like what resorts like Verbier have done: there's an official drone operator based in the resort who has a £30K-class machine capable of much better photography than any hobbyist could achieve, and an assistant who caries 'round the extra batteries even this class of device needs. They do all the official coverage of big events, but you can hire them for anything from a half hour session - which gives you much better results than you could ever get yourself And on the fun park, they film people for free and you can ask them to forward you their video of a run. This seems a constructive way of deterring people from bringing their own drones and causing havoc.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I was watching Hirscher during that run! It was really cool until it crashed, and I'm not sure they've been used in WC since. I'll be first in line for whatever gizmo they sell that will shoot these !@#$%^ things down. I had one in my "airspace" at home once, not pleased. They have their place, in limited and controlled situations where privacy is preserved.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@clarky999, Wrong, the Gendarmes would have confiscated it had they been reported. It was probably only a €100 one anyway.
Just imagine if that drone had been 30cm higher and a 5 year old kid was behind the skier and it had smacked the kid in the face.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@chocksaway, +1
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@chocksaway, DJI Phantom by the look of it, so into the £1000 bracket.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of drones buzzing around - at best they’re loud and intrusive and at worst can obviously be dangerous. But the point had been made and accepted and they were landing it.
When I’ve worked with drones here we’ve jumped through loads of hoops including speaking directly with air traffic control at the airport at the start and end if every flight. IMO part of the problem is how complicated the rules are and how expensive the training/certification is - make that more accessible and a lot of these problems would go away.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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DJI Phantom has 'object avoidance' and, provided it is switched on, should have been able to avoid the skier at that speed. Not foolproof but almost. That said, they were reckless flying it there and in that fashion. Can't beat a good old on piste confrontation though can you?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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in every tourist object in Iceland drones are not alowed. Not sure why so strict, but it is what it is.
flying drones is one thing, a person skiing/riding with "try to look cool" in his/her mind is not the same person, who is not thinking about those things. Myself became a worse rider when gopro is on a stick, plus I'm to lazy to edit those hundreds of GB of videos, so not bringing anything more than a cellphone to hill anymore.
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| Scooter in Seattle wrote: |
| I was watching Hirscher during that run! It was really cool until it crashed, and I'm not sure they've been used in WC since. |
Since that accident in Madonna di Campiglio all drones on WC races are forbidden. At least when it comes to accreditation holders, but I guess it's pretty hard to control normal public near slopes. Yet, in all these years I haven't seen a single one flying next or above to course of WC races, and I have been to race or two since then 
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| clarky999 wrote: |
| Douchebaggery goes two ways here IMO. Kids were dumb and flying it like that was reckless - dude has every right to make his opinion strongly felt. Deliberately destroying >£1000 of kit (and then trying to stamp on it) belonging to two teenagers (= likely can't easily replace it) once they've accepted the point and are bringing it back in to land is just petulant spite. |
Agreed. I think it was way over the top to smash it with the pole after they brought it down. I agree they shouldn't have been flying it but wow does he over react. Three big kids but one of them should have known better.
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The trouble with the bigger hobbyist drones is the weight of the payload and mass of the drone. Avoidance detection has improved a lot but this is mainly for static obstructions, not things which are themselves moving. Drones like the DJI 4 weigh as much as 1.4Kgs - that's quite a hefty weight to hit you if skiing at speed, or to drop on top of you from 100m. The one in the video looks like its carrying an even bigger payload, perhaps another couple of Kgs - anyone fancy something close in weight to a large laptop hitting you?
Yes, the more recent devices are good at avoiding telegraph poles and trees (which mine has no knowledge of), but not moving skiers.
The vendors talk about collision avoidance, 'get home safely' and 'follow me' capabilities, but these are not the same as a skilled human operator on the ground predicting things. I think a lot of buyers see the great drone shots you get on TV using industrial-grade machines and highly trained operators and think they're going to be able to do the same out the box, safely. There have been a lot of advances in pre-programming filming routes, but you have to put in the effort beforehand and there's quite a lot of skill needed to plan routes effectively. The tendency is to not bother and just manually control the flight.
One problem for even dedicated owners is finding somewhere empty enough to practice: you want some obstacles but nothing the drone will get stuck in, fairly flat, and where people won't materialise - a rogue drone moving at 15mph near ground level has a very large radius of travel before it'll run out of battery and come home. And to really spend enough time practicing, you need supplementary batteries. All of which mitigates against spending a lot of time becoming skilled in piloting.
I was going to move on to get a more expensive drone, but I also found that public opinion seemed to be moving against them. Partly thanks to media hysteria about them bringing down passenger airliners etc. I think this is a shame, as responsible use is justified, even in urban areas. I helped a neighbour see if his roof was damaged after a chimney-pot disappeared, and I also helped the local RSPCA take a look at some nesting birds without disturbing them (birds are generally not spooked by a drone vs a human appearing near a nest). So they can be genuinely useful. My builder asked if I'd help take a look at a building he'd agreed to repair, because every time he went up to the roof, the nesting seagulls went berserk and attacked his guys. But I wouldn't fly one in a built-up area now, because of public reaction more than anything.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@LaForet, wonder if you could "mitigate" public reaction in those circumstances by wearing a big yellow workman vest? It would focus bystanders on you, vaguely hinting there is a drone in the area, but it also gives the impression (rightly or wrongly) that you are "official" rather than an uncontrolled and/or surreptitious hobbyist.
I think it was a Banksy accomplice who said they could get away with anything by wearing yellow reflective vests.
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