Remote Controlled Helicopter Kills Man in Brooklyn

[degreaser]

Serious bummer. Condolences to family. Be careful out there.

https://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2013/09/05/remote-control-helicopter-kills-man-in-brooklyn/?blog_id=147&post_id=18410&mod=wsj_valettop_email

 

[Winston]

Yeah, it chopped off the top of his head and part of his shoulder. His father was there to witness it.

Quadcopters are dangerous, too, but I don't recall hearing of a fatality yet, probably due to their smaller props.

 

[closet astronaut]

I've noticed here on the forum rocketeers get quite testy when they see videos of people doing stupid things with rockets, and the NAR has strict safety rules and guide lines for the hobby all for good reason. As with this hobby and any other high velocity hobby safety MUST be top priority. These things are serious business, HIGH powered, and demand respect. I've learned this first hand already, just the other nite I was reprogramming the transmitter on mine, in the living room, I had the area clear, and the heli taped to the table with large strips of Gorilla Tape, good thing to, when I plugged in it spooled up full throttle, even flipping the throttle cut switch did nothing, I had to shut down the transmitter to kill power. If any one would have been close to it, or had it not been taped down with tape that actually peels the wood off the table when removing, things could have been bad.

I treat this machine with the utmost respect. The chopper he was flying looks like the T-Rex 600 or maybe even larger, way more powerful than the one I have. This incident is the exact reason I haven't tried to fly mine yet. There's too much I don't know yet, and when I do start flying it's going to be low and slow.

Not knowing the details here it's very hard to say what could have happened. Mechanical failure, weather, but he sounds like an experienced flyer, and builder, I would hope it wasn't caused by over confidence to the point of losing respect. This is usually when accidents happen, getting over confident in any thing and losing respect for what ever you are doing, and this applies to work place, driving, hobbies, sports and any thing that is potentially dangerous.

 

[Nathan]

It's only a matter of time before somebody gets killed by a high power rocket with a recovery system failure, coming down ballistic.

 

[rocketgeek101]

I've noticed here on the forum rocketeers get quite testy when they see videos of people doing stupid things with rockets, and the NAR has strict safety rules and guide lines for the hobby all for good reason. As with this hobby and any other high velocity hobby safety MUST be top priority. These things are serious business, HIGH powered, and demand respect. I've learned this first hand already, just the other nite I was reprogramming the transmitter on mine, in the living room, I had the area clear, and the heli taped to the table with large strips of Gorilla Tape, good thing to, when I plugged in it spooled up full throttle, even flipping the throttle cut switch did nothing, I had to shut down the transmitter to kill power. If any one would have been close to it, or had it not been taped down with tape that actually peels the wood off the table when removing, things could have been bad.

I treat this machine with the utmost respect. The chopper he was flying looks like the T-Rex 600 or maybe even larger, way more powerful than the one I have. This incident is the exact reason I haven't tried to fly mine yet. There's too much I don't know yet, and when I do start flying it's going to be low and slow.

Not knowing the details here it's very hard to say what could have happened. Mechanical failure, weather, but he sounds like an experienced flyer, and builder, I would hope it wasn't caused by over confidence to the point of losing respect. This is usually when accidents happen, getting over confident in any thing and losing respect for what ever you are doing, and this applies to work place, driving, hobbies, sports and any thing that is potentially dangerous.

Well said. You can bet I'll never fly a rocket that I consider unsafe. If I see an issue that could potentially cause damage or injury to persons/rocket/property I won't allow my rocket to fly until the issue is fixed. Same goes for RC stuff if I ever get into that.

 

[grouch]

I stopped flying my 500 precisely because it was powerful and dangerous. I had one occasion during a nose in hover where I lost it for a second and put it in the ground about 3 feet from me. I was setting up the BeastX flybarless system and wasn't used to seeing the machine without a flybar. The sound it made was atrocious. I rebuilt it and sold it in a week. I have seen a 700 flipping around doing close in low 3d smack a bystander in the chest. Not pretty. I hung up my TX over a year ago and I don't miss it one bit. It's a very dangerous hobby even when treated with kid gloves.

 

[closet astronaut]

I forgot to mention, I bought my heli off ebay, from a guy that lives about 15 miles from me, he actually brought it to my home, real nice guy, probably in his mid to late 50's. He too is a newbee to 3D fliers, he had some pretty knarly, fresh healed scars on his shin from an unexpected spool up.

 

[matthew]

The article I read said he has youtube videos showing him allowing it to drop above him and power up just in time to stop it landing on top of him. I guess this guy finally pushed his stupidity far enough for it to actually bite him.

 

[closet astronaut]

The article I read said he has youtube videos showing him allowing it to drop above him and power up just in time to stop it landing on top of him. I guess this guy finally pushed his stupidity far enough for it to actually bite him.

I didn't see that part but it was just as I figured, over confidence. I would NEVER get one of these too close to me purposely, heck I don't even fly my Chinook close to me or any one for that matter.

 

[Odo]

It's only a matter of time before somebody gets killed by a high power rocket with a recovery system failure, coming down ballistic.

Hear hear.

 

[Tarasdad]

RC helis and planes MUST be treated with respect. If you don't, theywill bite you. All it takes is one moment of inattentiveness, one attempt to push things just that little bit farther, one "hey, look at this!" moment that goes wrong and tragedy happens. There are numerous non-fatal incidents every year but only a very few that end in death and those rarely. In all the years I've been in the RC hobby I've only seen one relatively serious injury and that was my brother getting his shin shredded by his powered glider in a moment of inattentiveness.

Let this be a reminder to us all that any hobby that involves powerful machines needs to treated with complete seriousness at all times.

 

[BABAR]

RC helis and planes MUST be treated with respect. If you don't, theywill bite you. All it takes is one moment of inattentiveness, one attempt to push things just that little bit farther, one "hey, look at this!" moment that goes wrong and tragedy happens. There are numerous non-fatal incidents every year but only a very few that end in death and those rarely. In all the years I've been in the RC hobby I've only seen one relatively serious injury and that was my brother getting his shin shredded by his powered glider in a moment of inattentiveness.

Let this be a reminder to us all that any hobby that involves powerful machines needs to treated with complete seriousness at all times.

:
The major fallacy that causes people to do things like this is the idea that a HOBBY cannot be both fun and challenging without being unsafe. It is even possible to "push the envelope" and try new things and new designs within the safety guidelines of the hobby and under controlled conditions without spectators and with anticipation and preparation for mishaps.
Not that you should ever launch a rocket or RC that you expect to fail but you should have a plan in place to avert catastrophe if it does. Maintaining a safe distance from hot or high velocity parts is a big start.

 

[closet astronaut]

Anything that spins or deploys a projectile must be respected. All of us that work with our hands be it hobby or lively hood encounter things that spin, these are the most dangerous, and the most likely to be taken for granted, I can speak from experience...

Both of these injuries were caused by tools that spin, even being careful, and both within a three month period, and both the same thumb..

 

[closet astronaut]

Hey guys, just found this on the RC Heli forum, the title of the thread....RC Helicopters are not toys!



Here's a little bit of the post...

(i have a walkera dragonfly 4 its small but can still do abit a damage to a person when the blades are spinning at 1500rpm, Because im learning how to fly ( i cant even hover yet!) i use the heli in my bedroom, so im out the way of my wife a kid. i take all the furniture out the room so i have alot of space, BUT its still not realy enough room and because ive still had my legs hit and hit the wall about 5 times,)

 

[degreaser]

Both of these injuries were caused by tools that spin, even being careful, and both within a three month period, and both the same thumb..

Ouch! What bit you?

 

[closet astronaut]

Ouch! What bit you?

The thumb nail was caused by a cheap drill bit that broke, after breaking it came down on my thumb while still spinning. The second was caused by a side grinder with a cheap cutting wheel, it frayed while cutting a bolt, snagged and spun out of my grip twisting side ways cutting my left hand, if you draw a line through the meat from end of cut to end of cut that will show how deep it was, 23 stitches, 8 inside, 15 out and there's still nerve damage, one whole side of the thumb is numb. These were tools provided by the employer, any thing purchased was the cheapest junk they could find. These were the first two strikes leading to my eventual dismissal.

 

[Cl(VII)]

These were tools provided by the employer, any thing purchased was the cheapest junk they could find. These were the first two strikes leading to my eventual dismissal.

That is disgusting. An employer with little to no respect for the safety of their employees is beyond contempt. I hope with time the issues you still have from these injuries will disipate. It's probably good you are no longer at that job, your injuries while awful, are a symptom of an environment conducive to far great injury.

 

[closet astronaut]

That is disgusting. An employer with little to no respect for the safety of their employees is beyond contempt. I hope with time the issues you still have from these injuries will disipate. It's probably good you are no longer at that job, your injuries while awful, are a symptom of an environment conducive to far great injury.

You have no idea, if OSHA ever showed up there they would shut them down, and yes, losing my job there was a great blessing, I had another in less than a week.

 

[K'Tesh]

Anything that spins or deploys a projectile must be respected. All of us that work with our hands be it hobby or lively hood encounter things that spin, these are the most dangerous, and the most likely to be taken for granted, I can speak from experience...

Both of these injuries were caused by tools that spin, even being careful, and both within a three month period, and both the same thumb..

View attachment 144812 View attachment 144813 View attachment 144814

Ow! Ow! Ow!

I'm reminded of my late Grandfather's left thumb. He lost 1/3 of it as a kid chopping firewood, then lost it below the last knuckle as a 20-something with a skill saw. He managed to get most of the rest of it removed again with a skill saw as a 30-something. I always thought that if you're gonna remove a digit, do it once, and once only... God invented pain so you wouldn't do stuff like that again.

BTW, I've only used a skill saw twice in my life, and I try to stay the hell away from any power tool I can (outside of the occasional drill or jig saw).

 

[matthew]

That picture of your palm injury - when I was a kid, my dad had worse than that from a propellor on a gas powered RC plane. It took a few slices through his palm. I don't remember the circumstances of how he came to do it. It sure taught me to give these things plenty of respect.

 

[Winston]

I've posted this recently in the "LOL" thread here, but it shows you how fast these things can move when they get out of control and how much damage they could do to human flesh:

New RC Helicopter Fail

[video=youtube;fvXvioTVVA0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvXvioTVVA0[/video]

 

[Winston]

Hey guys, just found this on the RC Heli forum, the title of the thread....RC Helicopters are not toys!

"Because im learning how to fly ( i cant even hover yet!) i use the heli in my bedroom, so im out the way of my wife a kid. i take all the furniture out the room so i have alot of space, BUT its still not realy enough room and because ive still had my legs hit and hit the wall about 5 times"

That's just an extremely stupid thing to do when learning to fly, so stupid that it sounds like a satirical post? If it isn't, the Darwin Effect comes to mind.

 

[Grendel]

I've been flying rc helis since 2009, nearly 3500 flights. I've made a few mistakes and had a couple of close calls, but no injuries. I consider it a relatively safe hobby.

That being said, this is the second death this year involving rc helis. The other death occurred in Switzerland. Go listen to show #87 on www.rctodayshow.com and hear what happened to James. Discussion of it begins around the 64:25 mark. Yikes! As the hobby continues to grow -- there were over 1100 pilots at IRCHA this year -- I expect to hear or see more of this kind of stuff.

Anyway, from IRCHA this year. It really doesn't take much for stuff like this to happen.

[YOUTUBE]T6ZGta2El_I[/YOUTUBE]

BTW, Winston, what chip is that?

 

[bavspaceprogram]

It's only a matter of time before somebody gets killed by a high power rocket with a recovery system failure, coming down ballistic.

The last launch I was at I was late one day to arrive and I heard that the previous day a rocket had come down ballistic and even though there was a heads-up warning one guy kept looking up with binoculars and since he was looking in the wrong area with the binoculars it came down on top of him. I think he got paralyzed from the waist down.

 

[closet astronaut]

I've been flying rc helis since 2009, nearly 3500 flights. I've made a few mistakes and had a couple of close calls, but no injuries. I consider it a relatively safe hobby.

That being said, this is the second death this year involving rc helis. The other death occurred in Switzerland. Go listen to show #87 on www.rctodayshow.com and hear what happened to James. Discussion of it begins around the 64:25 mark. Yikes! As the hobby continues to grow -- there were over 1100 pilots at IRCHA this year -- I expect to hear or see more of this kind of stuff.

Anyway, from IRCHA this year. It really doesn't take much for stuff like this to happen.

In the two weeks I've had my 450 all I've done so far is spool it up a couple of times, I've spent ALL my time researching, watching videos, and reading manuals. I learned enough from these to understand that my 450 is NOT set up correctly, the blades aren't balanced, blade tracking is off, swash plate not level, and the main gear is out of wack, (the smaller main is wobbling up and down). There's also li-po batteries, that's a whole other subject for learning, li-po's are dangerous if not handled with respect.

Any new to this hobby, IMHO, should start off small in house flying, Just seeing how a ceiling fan and an AC vent can effect flight is enough to make you think. I've spent another hundred and seventy on tools, parts, and battery paraphenalia. There's way too much to learn in this hobby to just jump out and expect to fly one of these, even a coax. Although a mini coax is the best first step in learning to fly a heli if you've never flown one. Untill I've broken mine down and made sure every thing is set up right I'm not even going to try to fly it. From what I've learned so far...most new collective pitch fliers crash with in the first five seconds of flying. I've crashed all three of my small helis many times over the first couple of weeks of flying, but have gotten pretty good since. Almost blew up the li-po in my Chinook last week due to a faulty charger.

That video is another example of stupidity, that's got to be at least a 700 or bigger and one thing I've learned already is how unpredictable they can be, even my small ones especially my Chinook some times will power up with out engaging the throttle, or after cutting the throttle continue to spin. I've already made rookie mistakes like not saving the original settings from the transmitter before making changes, this alone can cause serious problems. Low and slow, listen to the pro's, arrogance and impatience are a lethal combination.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

I'm starting to understand why these things are called "choppers."

 

[mikec]

The last launch I was at I was late one day to arrive and I heard that the previous day a rocket had come down ballistic and even though there was a heads-up warning one guy kept looking up with binoculars and since he was looking in the wrong area with the binoculars it came down on top of him. I think he got paralyzed from the waist down.

If this is the incident you're referring to -- https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?54943-Man-in-Washington-State-struck-by-HPR-Ouch -- then I don't think there was any paralysis or lasting injury. Exaggerated hearsay doesn't help safety discussions.

 

[stickershock23]

I've posted this recently in the "LOL" thread here, but it shows you how fast these things can move when they get out of control and how much damage they could do to human flesh:

New RC Helicopter Fail

[video=youtube;fvXvioTVVA0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvXvioTVVA0[/video]

PRICELESS.

I LOVE flying helis. I am NOT some crazy 3d guy..

BUT you HAVE to respect them. I had one spool up in my shop on accident.. scared the crapoli out of me.. not to mention tores some crap up..

I feel for their family.. but Yeah I believe he got over confident... never let your eye off the shark... it will bite you!

 

[degreaser]

... I had one spool up in my shop on accident.. scared the crapoli out of me..

What was the cause?

 

[stickershock23]

What was the cause?

Operator stupidity... l made a dumb mistake...could have been bad..

Dumb luck i only destroyed a 300 dollar heli and lots of replaceable stuff. Hsd to stomp on it once it hit the ground..