Coochas

Harder to reach for beer if it's on the floor. The risk is that you have to loosen your belt and duck down to grab a brewski.

analogmike

Drones should be mandatory at Summit Point, they might scare the deer away from the track.

Guns are allowed everywhere in the USA because it's in the bible I think.

car_slave

Drones are fun but there is no way that an event organizer will want to pay the extra liability cost. You can fly them if you pay $xxxxx. Who wants to pay more?

TXE36

I know this tread has run its useful life, but couldn't resist:


Note the improvised tool used

-Mike

captdownshift

I do plan on getting a 3DR solo to experiment with automotive filming in a controlled environment in the near future. I'll report Vicki and others on the experience and results.

David Borden

Wanted to bring this back to the top to continue the discussion as this just came up in our local chapter.

While entertaining, many of those failures make sense. Several of them are home built, something I am familiar with. These devices are very complex and tuning one to fly right is a big challenge, but something many enjoy. No different than RC plane flying with the exception of their complexity. Ive had a few of my home built quad fall out of the sky as well. I also didnt fly them over people or cars.

The guys that build them in the vast majority of cases are enthusiasts and understand the risks. You will rarely see one of these guys flying over or near people. They understand, while rare, **** happens as seen in that video.

Most of the other drones in the video are DJI phantoms which have a pretty poor rep in the enthusiast community because enough people with no common sense buy them and immediately take it out and fly it in the middle of a busy city like Manhattan, or over the heads of kids playing soccer. They have no training, and no understanding of the risks. When you take 100-200 hours to build one and hundred of hours on a forum, you start to learn of the risks and see the discussions on these issues.

Its not some who buy a ready to fly quad means to be a douche, in most cases they just dont know better. (Im not saying that anyone who buys a DJI phantom is irresponsible or all enthusiasts are)

Unfortunately, in most cases its the people with little to no experience who are ending up in the news.

This technology is very new and advancing very quickly. As mentioned in this thread, the controls are way more advanced now and can hop frequencies incredibly fast. They have flying events with hundreds of planes in the air at the same time,while there could be hundreds more on the ground testing their radios and there are no issues in most cases. If you know what to buy, that just not and issue any more.

Most of the good commercial drones have built in GPS that if your battery is low, you loose communication with your controller, or have other failures, they will go to a specific altitude and fly back to where they started and land with no user intervention. DJI phantoms have these features. Unfortunately, quads(4 motors and props) will fall out of the air if they break prop, lose a motor or ESC. DJI included... although thats pretty rare on the new stuff from what I understand.

Intel recently invested 60 million in a drone company Yuneec and they have built sonar and Real Sense technology into their latest offerings that will prevent the drone from flying into virtually anything. They have airport no-fly zones programmed into them as well which will not allow you to fly near an airport, even if you are ignorant to its location. They wont allow you to fly over the 400ft altitude mandated by the FAA. In addition, to all the safety features mentioned earlier, their new hex can lose a motor, prop, or ESC and still fly normally. Pretty incredible stuff. (full disclosure, I work for Intel but have nothing to do with drones or the investment the company made)

The reality is, given reasonable precautions, these are very safe when operated by skilled pilots. To say that someone with experience and a modern craft is creating an unsafe situation, if flown away from people is really ludicrous.

Especially an organization who sponsors racing cars. To say its OK to hurl our bodies in a tin cans 100+ mph 2ft off the bumper of another tin can knowing that tires blow out, oil lines burst, engines seize and people make mistakes... but ruling out the safe use of a device used for aerial photography is comical.

Can anyone state with a straight face, that racing is less risk to injury than a couple lb drone 100ft up and 200ft back from people and cars when operated by someone who knows the risks and practices care?

Back to the reason I made this post. I offered to do some aerial photography and video of a upcoming PCA event. I offered this free of charge just to support the club and provide some cool perspectives on the event. I would be using a craft that has all the modern built in redundancies including the ability to lose a motor or prop and still fly. We would have had an agreed upon plan ahead of time, including a discussion on where it was safe to fly. Including the use of a spotter when the craft was in the air. I am a hobbyist only.

Apparently many thought it was a great idea until someone piped up and said drones can not be operated at PCA events! Apparently its the rules and they have been passed down by the mother-ship. No adult discussion, no debate...

Sad.

David

Der ABT

Yeh pretty sure it was the insurance carrier that made it no need for a discussion or vote

LuigiVampa

I had direct contact with PCA regarding the ability to allow drones at the track and tried to negotiate a frame work to let it happen.

The issue was mainly driven by insurance but there was a very vocal group of people that felt that if you want to do anything but drive a car at the track you must be some kind of joker and have no place being their.

There was one particular guy from Zone 1 in Canada writing me hate emails telling me I needed to find a new hobby. The guy was such a jackass I really hope I never meet him face to face and thereafter get banned from PCA events. He was a real demeaning SOB.

I think most drivers feel that being on track is only part of the fun of being at the track. Interaction with people, maybe having a cookout, or just joking around, is also an important part of being at the track - at least for me. When I am strapped into my car their isn't someone more serious than me. But out of the car, well, I'm here to have fun, because I sure as hell am not getting paid.

The only arguments I understand, and agree with, are safety and liability. I tried to negotiate both ideas, but to no avail. While I wish we could have put some framework in place to allow responsible people to fly drones, under an extremely tight set of rules, it was not to be. And I don't think it will ever happen.

Astroman

I didn't think it was a big deal (flying drones at the track) until I saw this poor guy nearly taken out:

mark kibort

absolutely allow them with guidelines! the video is really interesting and boosts the popularity of the sport for those that view these videos. I also think that after the last car has left the track, they should be able to fly around the track , just as we usually do with walk arounds (or bike arounds at some tracks)

Ive been flying a drone with my son for a year now and, the thing has amazing capability to return to home if signal is lost, and seems to not have any safety issues. (i have a ton of RC flying experience too and this is a totally automated type of flying! seems very safe )

mark kibort

that was insane!!!!! thats a reason to not have them on the racing circuit during a race!!

Der ABT

I agree they offer some great views and publicity....who doesn't like seeing their car from outside?.

With enough rules I'd be comfortable with themmm...only in low speed sections etc to minimize risk...but then we would either need someone to enforce or to give out passes and police it...raising cost to regions possibly....

I mean if it was on a tether to prevent it from entering the track....no issue at all by me

Guy with issue from canada...maybe a drone pilot took his wife away?

David Borden

Yeah agreed... IF someone thinks its OK to fly right above someones head or car... not smart.

Do you feel its dangerous if a pre-vetted well trained operator was flying 100ft off the side of the track and getting some really great videos and shots of your car?

I have little patience for the hubris and ego that some people have when it comes to organized clubs. Seems they are mostly interested in proving their point, vs. doing what makes sense.

David

Gary R.

I've never even been to Canada....
Just wanted to get that out there.

Cory M

I don't have a dog in this fight, and I get what you are saying but... Who wants to decide what aircraft is safe and qualify the operators? Are they qualified to make that call? Who wants to monitor drone pilots during the event to make sure they are operating safely at the specified times and distances? What's in it for the club leaders? A few videos? What's the risk and liability?

The people in the decision making positions in these clubs have enough to worry about without throwing drones into the mix. I imagine they are car enthusiasts and got involved because they love motorsport, not to make decisions about drones at the track. The benefit of cool video angles may not be worth the risks to them. Why deal with it if you can just say no? I think for most people it's not a hatred or fear of drones, it's just another potential headache to deal with when you are trying to run an event. A potential headache you can easily opt out of.

I think I'm a pretty good swimmer, but the people at the hotel won't let me use the pool after 9pm. I told them I use only wear the best swim trunks, I have taken swim lessons, they are welcome to test my swimming abilities, and I promised not to run by the pool. They still won't let me.... Again what's in it for them?

It seems to me that the most effective way to get some kind of drone initiative approved would be for drone enthusiasts to volunteer for leadership positions in the clubs and over time demonstrate how drones can be used safely and the benefits of having them around. Edit a bunch of cool videos and show them to the other club leaders. At the end of the day it's just people making a judgement call. Busy people who like cars and don't care about drones...