Originally Posted by fritzdecat

Birdstrikes are not dangerous?

There's always exceptions, for every situation that someone claims is entirely safe there's always an example that illustrates the opposite is not improbable.

What's important to note here is the frequency of occurance of such accidents. Considering there's thousands of birdstrikes every week (!) and the vast majority of these have not caused for fatalities amongst the pilot(s) or passengers statistics show that it does happen often, yet the consequences are seldom severe.

Cheers,

Sander.

Now what are you going to do to save people from birdstrikes?

Never said I was going to do a thing about it, it is just that if you put an FPV platform in the air and it takes someones life...What are you gonna do?

There was a guy last summer on this forum that did FPV with a Sr Telemaster and a gas engine and he was up high, would you like to smack the window of your Cessna with that.

This is the bottom line some people think it is dangerous others think not. the ensuing argument does not seem to be changing either position.

Originally Posted by DarkHeli

I agree. Now what are you going to do to save people from birdstrikes? I propose a new FAA regulation banning unmanned bird flights. They are a danger to us, and they could care less. Reports state that these birds might be carrying the bird flu virus, making them even more dangerous. How long will it take until one of them dives down and infects a million people with the virus?

Ah yes, and in the interest of safety the FAA has called for a nationwide ban on birds, they are not to be given a valid travel visa when flying over the borders and should be shot on sight. The US military is installing Phalanx guns with updated 'bird tracking' software all along the US borders to once and for all stop illegal immigrating birds from causing a potential threat to US aviation.

(Obviously they forgot that planes also fly internationally ... and hence birds are a common occurance outside of US borders).

Cheers,

Sander.

Sander,

I understand your point on relative safety but Patrick Egan is FAR from un or misinformed. He is probably the closest to the FAA - AOPA discussions as anyone on these boards. Many consider him an expert on the subject of the coming FAA changes.

Jeff

p.s. he seems to me to be very un-emotional on the subject which is handy for clear commentary.

Ya Bill I agree to a point, but there needed to be a place here in the fpv section to help with support of the Zeph, Trappy started this thread for that reason,I build the planes and all the stuff about the other gear that I dont deal with need a place to be directed to.

It is a build thread,and its sad that its turned into this,I have no control over anything accept my own world so weather I do or do not like the outcome of what people choose to do its not my respocibilty.

More than anything I try to give the best support that you can find for any other rc product.

I see being a crazy situation where I am in the middle,I am an hard workin American that does his best for his family and country.

The views are so passionate far rite and far left that its mind boggling.

I have feelings on both sides ,and dont have the energy to even begin to go down that road.

If you want the best support and a great product thats tuned to fit your needs I am here,if its hagling I am outa here.
If you want to add to this thread and help people ,or suggest things to be adjusted or adressed then this is the rite place.

I am just glad that with all this negativity that for our hobby sake that most the comments on youtube and vimeo are mostly positive,a bunch of negativity bleeding over to youtube from our own country would be a bad thing, and the press loves the bad things.
I am glad the negativity is staying mostly here on rcg for our hobby sake.

Sometimes as Americans ,with help of our media I think we can sometimes Be our own worst enemy.

Peace
Ck

Originally Posted by Bill Sanford

Yea, that's what I thought too.

Earlier in this thread when someone wanted to talk about actually building an EPP wing that was much like a Zephyr, but not a Ritewing, they got jumped on. That seemed to be more on topic than this discussion.

Personally I think it's a Zephyr advertising and promotion thread. No disrespect to CK's planes. I have a Zephyr and it flies great and would highly recommend it. Chris has a great product, but IMHO this is a sales promotion thread. As long as the word Zephyr is in the posts, all is well...

I'm sure I'll get flamed for this, but hey, someone had to say it.

Lets get back on topic. There is a wide variety of threads in the FPV forum available to vent or discuss FAA/AMA stuff.

Originally Posted by fritzdecat

Now what are you going to do to save people from birdstrikes?

Never said I was going to do a thing about it, it is just that if you put an FPV platform in the air and it takes someones life...What are you gonna do?

There was a guy last summer on this forum that did FPV with a Sr Telemaster and a gas engine and he was up high, would you like to smack the window of your Cessna with that.

This is the bottom line some people think it is dangerous others think not. the ensuing argument does not seem to be changing either position.

Okay, so how many bird are there worldwide you'd say? Couple of billion at least, lets make it 10. Of those birds say 5000 have a close encounter with a full scale plane on a weekly basis. So a bird has a chance of hitting a full scale plane of:

(5000/10 billion)x100 = 0.0005%

Now lets just directly extrapolate that to FPV pilots shall we. For the moment lets simply forget that no FPV pilot would be stupid enough to fly near an airport, as that is where 99.9% of all birdstrikes occur (during take off and landing). Lets say there's 100,000 FPV pilots worldwide. How many would risk flying into a full scale aircraft (number of pilots/number of birds):

(100,000/10 billion) x 0.0005 = 0.0000005

Now, 99.9% of all FPV pilots would be smart enough to not fly near an airport, which is where bird strikes are likely to happen. So that number should actually read:

(0.0000005/100) x 99.9 = 0.0000004995

So what are we talking about again exactly?

Cheers,

Sander.

I watched the video yesterday and thought it was a cool perspective. Watched it a couple times.

Then I started watching the talking heads "talk" about it.

Then I started thinking about the "perceived" paranoia surrounding FPV and its POSSIBLE uses.

Then I started thinking about the NY 9/11 issue and the general level of attention this FPV flight has caused.


Here's my opinion which don't amount to a hill of beans.

Stir up the wrong congressman/woman and or Senator with a stunt like this and watch the "TONE" change from "hey neat video" to "OMG, what if a threat, foreign or domestic were to do something like this with nefarious intentions"

While I don't see the FAA regulating RC out of existance in the long term, nor do I see them regulating everyone to fly only at sanctioned RC fields..do you really feel "the body POLITIC" is just going to ignore this video?

Sure, its not the first one to have occured, but it seems to be the most widely viewed and talked about video/occurance.

Stir up someone like Chuck "U' Schumer, D NY, or any high level political type, and watch how fast a directive is issued stating that all "unlicensed, unmanned aerial vehicle overflights" are hereby terminated until a proper and formal review is conducted.

While I don't see standard RC flying, ie person on the ground flying his plane with the unaided eye, being regulated out of existance, I do see "unlicensed" FPV going away and becoming some sort of law.

I'm just saying

By the way, didn't he break several laws or regulations?

Ie the 400ft ceiling, and flying withing a couple miles of a major airport?

oh yeah..one more thing.

The very fact that he came into this country, "legally" with his plane and FPV equipment...think about it...no regulation or restrictions on transporting such equipment on a commercial flight....until this just exposed a "HOLE" in the system...such a "hole" can be plugged very easily by the TSA and FAA

again, I'm just saying...

Stay Tuned to your local news about some congressman/woman and or Senator taking issue with this

Sander.

You don't seem to be hearing what I said?

Yes the FAA will probably ban birds, 90% of government reaction is just more
laws. Dumb ones at that.

My position is think responsibly when you send something up in the air that might interact in a negative fashion with someone inside an aircraft. A gas powered FPV Telemaster 3 miles from home...safe....Yah

If you want to believe that in no way shape or form can you FPV ever cause harm then thats your bag.

The guys are right ... I'm sorry... this is a build thread... I'm staying out except for some cool Zephyr tips...

Jeff

perceive guns as dangerous

Guns don't kill people, people kill people. But lots of people kill people with guns. Not many people kill people with foam airplanes.

Let's take terrorists. Here's a quiz. What would be easier to kill a lot of people. Learn how to fly a plane FPV, figure out the FPV electronics stuff, buy a few ounces of some explosive and put it in the plane, manage fly it into the crowd of choice, and manage to get the thing to explode OR go to any gun show in the US, legally buy a few assault rifles, and some ammo, put em under the raincoat, and find the same crowd to blast away.

Let's face it: there are a lot of ways that people that really want to hurt someone can manage to do it, and FPV is probably going to be way down on the list.Any time people engage in hobbies they can threaten the hobby. One of these days someone is going to loose control of a Giant Scale Extra and it is going to crash into a populated area. It is bound to happen. It will get a lot of attention and there will be calls to ban Giant planes. Does that mean people shouldn't fly them. Of course not.

Honestly, I don't really think the government, the FAA or Homeland security is all that worried about small foam planes. Big UAV's may be another matter.

Trappy has done a great deal to inspire a LOT of people to get involved in this hobby. He is a bit of a daredevil, and has done some amazing flights in all sorts of amazing locations. Trappy started this thread to share his knowledge about FPV. Let's not throw him under the bus for his latest adventure, which is pretty cool.

Final reminder. All posts that do not relate to buying, building or flying YOUR zephyr will be reported

I will try to keep the thread on the topic so that I will not be reported again by people who would rather use any means to shut me up rather than try to defend their defenseless position. I believe that buying a Zyphyr (or any other geeky plane, for that matter) and outfitting it with FPV equipment and then flying it in violation of rules, regulations, laws and outside the realm of decency, respect and common sense in such a way as to bring unwanted attention to a hobby that is enjoyed by many diverse people in many diverse ways in a country where you are a guest is the height of (fill in the blank with the strongest possible derogatory adjective), and is certainly not something to be celebrated.

Originally Posted by plowboy1966

I would like to keep the thread on the topic. I believe that buying a Zyphyr (or any other geeky plane, for that matter) and outfitting it with FPV equipment and then flying it in violation of rules, regulations, laws and outside the realm of decency, respect and common sense in such a way as to bring unwanted attention to a hobby that is enjoyed by many diverse people in many diverse ways in a country where you are a guest is the height of arrogance and stupidity.

Thank you! Can we interest you in a few TBS stickers and a T-shirt perhaps?

Cheers,

Sander.

After viewing a video which shows flying(!) a radio controlled aircraft over a densely populated city, this poorly conceived stunt is (more than) likely to add credence to those who wish to limit THE REST OF US in North America who enjoy flying model aircraft of all types in controlled situations.

Given the article points directly to this thread, it invites the appropriate comments; no amount of effort would succeed at creating a situation where the safety of the public can be 100% guaranteed. In other words, you trappy, nor anyone else on this planet can guarantee 100% control of an aircraft in this environment. Shame on you.

Given the events in recent history, and where the FAA and the governments of both our countries are going with airspace control, if you are associated with any recognized AMA club, you should be ousted.

Thanks for nothing...

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2...no-arrests.ars