MORON HITS PARACHUTE with RC PLANE

[BTerry]

	Quote:
	I also learned in my UAV class there might be some changes happening in the near future.......

Just wait until some FAA official shows up at your field asking to see your Class II medical certificate and license to fly your plane. I can't wait.

[Judge]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Sukhoikid
	I also learned in my UAV class there might be some changes happening in the near future.......

Yep. Here's the scoop

http://www.modelaircraft.org/news/ama-faa.aspx

[ferocious frankie]

	Quote: Originally Posted by BTerry
	Just wait until some FAA official shows up at your field asking to see your Class II medical certificate and license to fly your plane. I can't wait.

There goes the OFs.

[BingWing]

jesus !!!!!1 THAT IS CRAZY SH** !!!! What an A hole

[profil69]

Guys with the way things are going in the states lately you never really know what is going to happen. The bad thing is we might not be able to do a darn thing about it....

[Tired Old Man]

You won't be able to do a damn thing about it and it's likely going to be worse in some ways than BTerry noted. Especially if you fly anything that closely approximates the size, weight, and speed of an medium sized SUAV. That covers just about everything from 30% and up.

[JimC-MD]

This was a bad thing. Dangerous and all that. I think it was an accident from not following best practices. Those people could have been killed. I get that. Mr French, I am sure you feel bad and this will effect you for a long time to come. I will not judge you from one post on the net. You may have just been trying to convey that you were not a rookie pilot or unfamiliar with air safety. I think that is why things like this are called accidents instead of on purposes. I am glad no one was seriously hurt physically or killed. The emotional damage maybe a long time in healing though.

But I have to ask........ If this was a GS plane flown close to a crowd and the pilot made a mistake, then said mistake had the plane fly over the heads of those in the crowd and crash into the cab of a pickup truck, would you be calling for the pilot to be banned from flying RC? What if it was a small hot-liner that got away from the pilot and went through the roof of the pavilion? Should that pilot be banned? People could have been killed. Anyone have a pitchfork?

Many say that there is NO WAY you should be that close to a diver in the air. How many of you also think that intentionally flying high speed or high alpha close to another person is OK just because they are on the ground?

Just asking and feeling like being pitchforked today.

classclown, I have seen you with a torch and a pitchfork on these forums. I see that you had a different perspective when you are closer to the issue and know more about it. I think that is a valuable lesson for all involved. We should learn, read, ask questions but be slower to judge and hang as we may not have all the information. But hey, most people never let the facts get in the way of a good rampage. I respect your restraint on this topic. I hope cooler heads address the issue properly. Time will tell.

[BTerry]

I saw a .40 size plane, I think it was a Goldberg Tiger, get away from the pilot and hit the trunk of car parked at the field. It punched a hole through the sheetmetal of the trunk, and penetrated far enough into the trunk space to fold both wings back.

The car was owned by a spectator at the field, and the owner's 3 little kids were sitting inside. Granted the sheetmetal of the trunk is thinner and usually is a single layer so it MIGHT not have penetrated into the passenger space of the car, but this was a .40 SIZE PLANE!! I don't even want to think about the damage one of my larger planes would do.

There was a story circulating here a few years ago about two FATALITIES that occured at a RC airshows in China and Hungary. In the China story somebody was hit in the back with a .40 size plane. In Hungary it was a much larger plane that lost control doing some low level aerobatics and went into the crowd. In both cases the pilot received a lengthy prison sentence.

I lost a 35% plane at a flying on New Years Day this year at Extra Nuts' and Mark Leseberg's home field in front of a big crowd when the batteries broke free during a blender. After the spin recovery the batteries unplugged and the plane by some MIRACLE snapped into a left hand spin away from the flight line. Just as easily it could have pointed toward the crowd of 100 or so people and flown straight into them. The engine was at half throttle without any method of killing it (no power to the radio and no backup ignition kill). Of course I now have an ignition kill switch on every plane.

Bottom line is these things can be very dangerous and we need to follow all the safety steps. A few high-profile cases like this one are all the POWERFUL UAV lobby will need to bend our flexible government into selling our hobby down the river and force all of us to fly little park flyers. If we are lucky perhaps we can convince our local state not to enforce flying site restrictions, particularly when our flying sites are in more rural areas or tight areas like the sites around me. The trees are so thick that we all fly within the confines of our flying fields (within 200-300 yards of the pilot, and under 600-1000 agl max), because we can't see beyond the trees!

My fear is the Federales will start over-patrolling our sites and will bring harsh FAA penalties against the rest of us, whether or not there is any real UAV activity in the area, just to protect their cronies in the "industry". Crony "Capitalism" (where big companies use the power of government to force their competitors out of business) is returning in a big way, just like it did in the 30's (in USA, Germany, Italy,...)

[profil69]

The first things I see coming are mandatory flight control systems like the automatic engine kill and who knows what could come after things like that. It is very possible the hobby could get taken under just by being to expensive to fly.

[profil69]

As far as turning out regulations like Germany and other country's, it is probably closer than we think with the new prez trying to turn our economy into a socialist nation. (just my thoughts no pun intended)

[BTerry]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Tired Old Man
	You won't be able to do a damn thing about it and it's likely going to be worse in some ways than BTerry noted. Especially if you fly anything that closely approximates the size, weight, and speed of an medium sized SUAV. That covers just about everything from 30% and up.

I understand, but take a look at Profil69's avatar picture.

No rational, freedom-loving American would conceivably want to tell him "you can't fly here", just because some big company $$weet talked enough senators 2000 miles away to strong-arm the FAA into designating that lake bed a "designated UAV area". As always with Washington, "It's not who you know, it's who you blow...".

Perhaps we can convince our states to claim sovereignty over our own airspace again and force Washington to give it back. Then again, maybe not. There just aren't enough of us, and our states seem to be content to convert our flying sites to soccer fields.

Given the altitude, size, and other restrictions coming down the pike, those of us who fly sailplanes are at risk too.

That said, flying at an ACTIVE skydiving field is dangerous. Flying there without listening to the scanner to know when the parachuters are out is neglectful. Any property damage or INJURY would likely be prosecuted as criminal neglect.

[BTerry]

	Quote: Originally Posted by profil69
	As far as turning out regulations like Germany and other country's, it is probably closer than we think with the new prez trying to turn our economy into a socialist nation. (just my thoughts no pun intended)

This has been going on for a long time, for many decades, under presidents of both parties, many of whom decried their predecessor's "unlawful power grab" only to exercise that same power and fight to increase it. Governments prefer power and continually seek to increase their influence.

Unfortunately, as experience has long shown, "Soft Tyrranies" or "benevolent tyrranies" ALWAYS lead to "Hard Tyrranies".

[profil69]

	Quote: Originally Posted by BTerry
	This has been going on for a long time, for many decades, under presidents of both parties, many of whom decried their predecessor's "unlawful power grab" only to exercise that same power and fight to increase it. Governments prefer power and continually seek to increase their influence. Unfortunately, as experience has long shown, "Soft Tyrranies" or "benevolent tyrranies" ALWAYS lead to "Hard Tyrranies".

I am very happy to say that I try not to pay to much attention to all of the politics that go on in our nation. I really got into it pretty deep when our new prez went into office and it seemed like it all just depressed me to a small extent. Now the only news I get about stuff like that I get through word of mouth or from you guys. I feel much happier that way!

[BTerry]

You will probably find this quote to be pertinent...

"I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it."

Thomas Jefferson

[profil69]

	Quote: Originally Posted by BTerry
	You will probably find this quote to be pertinent... "I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it." Thomas Jefferson

Yes sir I do and thank you for it.