FAA Grounds University Of Michigan's Football Delivery Drone

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
*Referee whistle* The FAA threw a flag on the play for grandstanding. The drone has been ejected from the game.

“The FAA promotes voluntary compliance by educating UAS operators about how they can operate safely under current regulations and laws,” the agency said today in an e-mailed statement. After explaining its rules on drones -- and pointing out that the agency had also approved a temporary flight restriction over the stadium during the game -- the school backed down, FAA said in the statement.
Click to expand...
 
FAA can't ground shit, they can just make stern recommendations. It'd be like a police officer suggesting the merits of driving 35mph on a particular road, but not being able to do anything about it if the community decides 50mph is perfectly safe.
 
Ducman69 said:
FAA can't ground shit, they can just make stern recommendations. It'd be like a police officer suggesting the merits of driving 35mph on a particular road, but not being able to do anything about it if the community decides 50mph is perfectly safe.
Click to expand...


Doesn't matter if they have the authority or not if people continue to comply. Comply often enough and they end up with that authority. The FAA needs to but out, but it looks like they will need some

However, good sense says you don't fly these things over a crowded stadium without some major consideration given to safety. I have been flying R/C helos for a decade and would still never fly them over a crowd. Too much could go wrong. I have yet to fly a quad, (I understand they are far easier to fly, less prone to crashing than a traditional helo), but I would think that should it fail 30 feet over the head of the crowd that someone would get hurt.
 
GORANKAR said:
Doesn't matter if they have the authority or not if people continue to comply. Comply often enough and they end up with that authority. The FAA needs to but out, but it looks like they will need someone to give them a push.

However, good sense says you don't fly these things over a crowded stadium without some major consideration given to safety. I have been flying R/C helos for a decade and would still never fly them over a crowd. Too much could go wrong. I have yet to fly a quad, (I understand they are far easier to fly, less prone to crashing than a traditional helo), but I would think that should it fail 30 feet over the head of the crowd that someone would get hurt.
Click to expand...


Don't know what happened there. I derped.
 
Flying a quad copter over the infield is different then the "crowd over a stadium"

Why do they allow pyrotechnics at stadiums? I would think that is much much more dangerous then a small quad copter.....
 
The word "drone" really needs to be defined. These little quad copters are nothing more than civilian R/C's. A drone is a piece of military class hardware (whether operated by the military or a space agency), not an R/C vehicle.
 
Seriously I'm about to tell the FAA to fuck off.

If I'm allowed to walk into a hobby store and buy parts to build a rocket that can fly up into the STRATOSPHERE, I should be allowed to fly my little Quad copter 400ft off the ground.

I mean fuck, my model rocket actually has a chance to get sucked into a jet engine.
 
tikiman2012 said:
The word "drone" really needs to be defined. These little quad copters are nothing more than civilian R/C's. A drone is a piece of military class hardware (whether operated by the military or a space agency), not an R/C vehicle.
Click to expand...

I agree. To me the term "Drone" implies there is some level of autonomy, and functioning to some degree, independently from the operator. (like following a pre-determined flight path via GPS, or some other form of self-navigation).

Most quad-copters are nothing more than fancy RC's, with maybe a mounted camera to assist the operator for when the unit is beyond direct line of sight.
 
Curious if the FAA thinks it has authority over stadiums that have roofs. To me in an open air stadium I would think any airspace below the maximum height of the stands is not regulated airspace.
 
/wonders if they will start banning the advertising blimps used in many arena's to drop coupons upon the crowd.
 
tikiman2012 said:
The word "drone" really needs to be defined. These little quad copters are nothing more than civilian R/C's. A drone is a piece of military class hardware (whether operated by the military or a space agency), not an R/C vehicle.
Click to expand...

Actually, the FAA has very clearly defined them, just go look for it. I think they reference it properly in the article, a UAS or Unmanned Aerial System.
 
ShamisOMally said:
Seriously I'm about to tell the FAA to fuck off.

If I'm allowed to walk into a hobby store and buy parts to build a rocket that can fly up into the STRATOSPHERE, I should be allowed to fly my little Quad copter 400ft off the ground.

I mean fuck, my model rocket actually has a chance to get sucked into a jet engine.
Click to expand...

You can, but they have been limiting business use, not civilian hobby/recreational use. Get with the issue brother.
 
Besides, just like Steve quoted, the FAA talked to the University and just maybe the University realized that their initial plan overlooked a potential risk, a risk they decided all on their own wasn't worth taking.

Now the company that was going to provide the drone for their own promotional reasons, of course they were disappointed but truth is, if the FAA knew of a potential risk then the company probably did as well and if they neglected to communicate that risk to the University then that's on them. Just sayin'.
 
ShamisOMally said:
Seriously I'm about to tell the FAA to fuck off.

If I'm allowed to walk into a hobby store and buy parts to build a rocket that can fly up into the STRATOSPHERE, I should be allowed to fly my little Quad copter 400ft off the ground.

I mean fuck, my model rocket actually has a chance to get sucked into a jet engine.
Click to expand...

As long as you aren't running a business delivering skittles to rainbow dwellers with those rockets then the FAA doesn't give a shit.
 
And, I want to take this opportunity to highlight just how well the media misrepresents the facts.

A quote from the article;
The University of Michigan Wolverines canceled plans to use an unmanned aircraft to deliver the game ball tomorrow before kickoff against the University of Utah at its Ann Arbor stadium after talking to U.S. aviation regulators.
Click to expand...

But the headline reads;
Pigskin Delivery Drone at Michigan Grounded After FAA Rule
Click to expand...
Suggesting that an FAA Ruling had something to do with it, yet reading the article we find that there is no ruling against it.

But this is made even worse here;
FAA Grounds University Of Michigan's Football Delivery Drone
Click to expand...
Which we recognize as Steve's handiwork.

And this is why we get people who say things like this;
Originally Posted by ShamisOMally;
Seriously I'm about to tell the FAA to fuck off.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top