How do we save the hobby from Quads?

[PeteStewardson]

Sev isn't wrong though, any of you old enough to be able to cast their minds back about 35 years or so should be able to recall pretty much the same things being said about helicopters at the time.

They required no 'skill' to build, being made up of parts you bolt together with no woodwork, tissue or film involved, could be flown from anywhere as they didn't require a flat grass landing strip and were being bought by people with no background in flying model aircraft and so would inevitably lead to the downfall of the entire hobby ...

Let's try not to go down the path that the plane fraternity took back then and try to enlighten and help those we see doing the wrong thing with these models.

If they will not listen and continue to behave recklessly then off to the CAA it is I guess, but I'd rather try to include them in the broad category of rotorcraft along with the heli fraternity than ostracise them the way the a lot of heli pilots were when first starting ...

Again this isn't my object of trying to struck up a debate

I'm not against quads. Quite fancy a go on one myself if I'm honest. And I don't care whether you fly a plane, a quad, a hell, or an RC hang glider ( Saw one of these once, awesome idea ) it's all part of the hobby we're in.

However with the quads being the fastest growing area of the hobby, and one making it more accessible for people to have a go at in my view, I think we need to somehow do more to educate the buyers of these things. For example, lip service is given to informing the purchaser of a hell, or quad of the dangers. Open the manual for any hell or quad you have and see if the quick couple of sentences in the back ( on most manuals it's near the back or a one liner somewhere else ) it's hardly very convincing. Could retailers do more, with some kind of leaflet/booklet that could help? OK you could argue that people may not read them. But they also might, and that could help.

I have no issue with doing the same again and talking to anyone that is flying in public, and by the same vein if I saw someone driving a fast car around people in a reckless manor I'd do the same, but I'd argue that it's much easier to completely ignore your surroundings on an aircraft with a live camera view than any other form of RC machine.

[electricsceadu]

and some complain about the cold shoulder from fixed wing pilots
isn't the title doing the the same with quads?

[milly0812]

I agree quads are crap and so are goblins right I'm off out for supplies ......don't start without me

[PeteStewardson]

I agree quads are crap and so are goblins right I'm off out for supplies ......don't start without me

Now I never said that!








But yeah, goblins are crap

[electricsceadu]

leave tadpoles out of it
as the guts are good for scale helis
the rest is for urrrrrrrrrrrrm
well you know

[heathy]

Surprised everyone including you Pete didn't fall asleep while watching said "multi rotor " YAWN.

[Mslater]

I'm afraid its all about education. If you look at the outlets where DJI phantom kit and such likes are available you'll find them in the most unlikely of places, that is, tech shops, robotics stores and other various vendors that just do not have a clue about what it is they are selling - nor do they care in most circumstances. Customers are sold the kit and given extreme confidence from the outset - 'anyone can fly it' is often the tag line. And whilst almost anyone can in full GPS mode the dangers and possible failures are seldom mentioned.

At the moment britain has a very open policy for uk flyers of quad copters etc but its not likely to last and I can see the UK following other countries where flying this equipment anywhere other than a registered club flying field is illegal.

Now back to the danger aspects (lets ignore personal privacy for the time being) - yes these things can be dangerous, especially to young children. The course of action to take would be a complaint to the local police station of a person suspected of endangering public safety. A description of the gentleman with time/date and what specifically you think was dangerous should suffice. It would be the same procedure if someone was hitting golf balls around the park or riding a motorbike etc.

If you feel particularly strongly and in your opinion it is likely that someone will be injured then you can call 999 and report the incident immediately. It's rarely fruitful to take the law into you own hands and approach the suspected offender.

Now the BMFA suggest that a spotter is required when flying FPV, its clear that this gentleman either ignored this advice or is oblivious to it. The regulation also states a required distance of 50m (can someone verify this please, can't find the reg atm) from buildings or persons when flying with an on board camera. Failing to adhere to this my constitute the basis for a civil proceeding and most likely a fine when it eventually reaches court - but someone has to initiate a prosecution. The best people to do this are the local constabulary...that takes us back to the above

The bottom line is - There's some idiots about and it will always be like that. BUT if we are responsible and start reporting the idiots then we can possibly avoid the major incident that effects us good boys.

[PeteStewardson]

Surprised everyone including you Pete didn't fall asleep while watching said "multi rotor " YAWN.

I think that's unfair. I don't think they're any more boring than helis in general. It's the same as flying any fixed pitch heli in my book.

[jwatts007]

Threads like this on this forum do far more damage too our hobby than a guy flying his little quad in a park...and dont start with the "What if" and stick too what actually happened...which was nothing happened...its self appointed fun police like yourself who sit on there phoney moral high ground preaching and moaning that brings this hobby down...Live and let live...try it...

[ghost2212]

Which park was it in woodley?, I think the view we need to take with this is not to alienate these people. Rather than saying "don't do that" we need to educate them and tell them useful information so that they can change their ways hopefully and not cause issues. The people on this forum who say quads are shit and all that need to grow up and stop being little *****. If you don't like it don't fly them but whether you like it or not they are a big part of the hobby now and will hopefully bring in new people to Heli's as well. The retailers have a responsibility to educate people on the risks and rules etc when selling the products rather than just focusing on the money there making off them.

Highly doubt he was taking video or photos of little children, let's face it there's far cheaper ways than buying yourself a quad copter to do it with. All this rubbish about invasion of privacy is starting to also become and issue. People should be more focused on what the supposedly lawful government is monitoring your activities with.

Let's now make quads/multirotors out to be the problem here. The problem lies within the lack of information about there available to new people and it's up to us to educate and inform them about this. Occasionally there will be people who will ignore you no matter what and these are the people we need to focus on reporting to the authorities as there's nothing we can do to change their mind.

[Nick B]

Threads like this on this forum do far more damage too our hobby than a guy flying his little quad in a park...and dont start with the "What if" and stick too what actually happened...which was nothing happened...its self appointed fun police like yourself who sit on there phoney moral high ground preaching and moaning that brings this hobby down...Live and let live...try it...

Be a bit different if it was your kids this guy was buzzing.

[ChrisB]

What happened is he broke the ANO,and if people keep breaking it we are the ones who will suffer in the end.

And by WE i mean people who want to just fly their rc models for fun,responsibly and will stick to the God damn rules.

Some of the replies on here worry me,it appears the chap did no wrong so maybe it goes on a lot now

[helijohn]

I actually wonder just how acceptable the business of flying in public parks is. I wouldn't do it.

[debrooker]

a lot of parks have bylaws preventing model flying. so it depends where you are I guess

[pgkevet]

I was looking for soem gold in this thread.. all i found was Milly's (don's) comment...

It also scares me that folk use the paedo suggestion at every opportunity.

Whatever happened to the good ol' days when you'ld just have 'stuck one on him'? If this really irritated me and I'd have been there then everyone has a phone ..so a vid of the dude, what he's doing and his vehicle reg with appropriate threat could have worked. - whether it's a quad, plank or even a proper model (heli).

The one thing you'll never succeed is to legislate against stupidity.