10 thoughts on “Tour around New York City via a RC plane (video)”
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Tour around New York City via a RC plane (video)
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How, exactly, does casually risking other people’s necks qualify as “culture jamming?”
Whatever you think of the restrictions on DIY UAV’s, and whatever you think of “security”-related airspace controls, the Hudson and East river VFR corridors are some of the most regulated airspace in the country for very good, safety-related reasons.
Airspace in those locations is shared between transit traffic, some of the heaviest volumes of tourist flights in the world, and what may actually be the highest level of helicopter commuters anywhere. The collision risk is overwhelming. All of the special restrictions, and there’s an entire online course to help pilots learn them, are meant to prevent yet another incident like the August ’09 midair. It still may not be enough.
Defying the drone regs over your own farm, or some beautiful empty mountain; that’s one thing. Doing it in a place where even piloted fixed-wings are prohibited without special permission, crazy-close navigation, and announce-your-position requirements that a drone simply can’t meet? That’s simply reckless. And when someone’s 5 pounds of DIY drone becomes a tourist ‘copter’s shredded compressor fan and a half-dozen funerals, it’s going to be the worst thing that ever happened to RC airplanes.
Whoever made this video is at the pinnacle of idiocy. They totally disregard the safety of others for their own selfish gratification. We in the RC community have no respect for shannanagins such as this. You, single handedly, endanger the entire hobby with these moronic stunts. I will personally have no problem forwarding this video to your local law enforcement agency and demand that they take appropriate action in defence of my beloved hobby.
At the end of the video there is a blurry shot of what seems to be an NYPD officer looking at the POV of the airplane. Was this shot inserted to give the impression that elements of this flight were legal? It would seem misleading if the authors of the video gave the officer a look while flying the drone in the immediate area and then when the officer left they flew it through the city. Would the officer be saying awesome if he saw it flying next to the Statue of Liberty?
Just a different perspective on how the shots were edited together.
If these folks really did a long flight in the tightly-controlled air space (and over the almost-as-tightly-controlled waters) of NYC without getting the right clearances, I’ll agree wholeheartedly with the first two commenters. That would be a stupid, selfish, dangerous criminal act, and I would want to see them prosecuted for it.
However, it’s not at all clear to me that that’s what happened. First, the video is edited from a series of cuts that appear to have been taken during separate, short flights. Second, I don’t see any other aircraft anywhere near them at any point. Third, the sidewalks they’re flying over are all empty. Fourth, at the end of the video I see what appear to be a pair of New York’s Finest playing with the drone, followed by a shout-out to them and the TSA. All of those things suggest at least some degree of official awareness.
I’ll bet they’re intentionally pretending this is more “risky” than it is. They probably had all the right paperwork, but don’t mention it for fear of ruining their “street cred”.
In any case, that’s between them and the authorities. (It’s not like they’re keeping these flights, or their identity secret!) If there’s a problem, the real cops will get them, they don’t need us pontificating on what’s legal and what isn’t.
Besides, that’s all boring, We’re missing the real issue here :
THIS FOOTAGE IS FANTASTIC!