Drone struck Emprie State Building, man arrested

[MongGrel]

Agreed. If it was small enough that no one noticed it hitting the building until this guy asked the guards for help retrieving it then it's not a drone.

Does that really matter though ?

 

[Paratus]

Drone:

Quadracopter:

It's funny how the media has vilified these hobbyist rc aircraft by making them sound scary.

Agreed. If it was small enough that no one noticed it hitting the building until this guy asked the guards for help retrieving it then it's not a drone.

Sorry but a drone is an unmanned craft that can either pilot itself and/or allow the controller to remotely pilot it beyond line of sight. The quad in the picture can do both.

The on board controller can fly the quad back to its landing point and land itself if it loses com with the rc controller. Witn thr newer ones you simply pick a bunch of waypoints on Google maps and the quad will fly to all of them.

With the camera and a transmitter you can fly it out of sight via goggles or monitor. (Although that's against FAA rules if you don't have a spotter)

So that phantom is both a quadcopter and a drone.

 

[Blackjack200]

Were you driving on the sidewalk when it happened? If so, then yes.

I imagine there are sidewalks between the road and a ditch. Was he breaking the law by flying a drone in the first place? NYC is a very crowded place, so a city ordinance against them would be understandable, but absent that, I don't know how you can infer that this guy was breaking the law.

YMMV I guess, I remember even in the 70's seeing some pretty huge gas powered RV hobbyist planes that would be capable of carrying a pretty large payload.

But even randomly having a 2lb RC/drone drop from that height would potentially kill someone pretty easily on a crowded street.

Okay, I mean, if that's what we're saying then flying drones at that height should be simply be banned in NYC. Maybe it is, but the article didn't say that.

Used to be a drop a penny off the Empire State Building thing and kill someone potentially, even prior to the interwebs.

Not sure if was a myth or not, but it would build up velocity.

It's a myth.

 

[MrPickins]

I imagine there are sidewalks between the road and a ditch. Was he breaking the law by flying a drone in the first place? NYC is a very crowded place, so a city ordinance against them would be understandable, but absent that, I don't know how you can infer that this guy was breaking the law.

From the article:

Sean Riddle, 27, of Jersey City, was arrested shortly before 8 p.m. on Thursday on charges of reckless endangerment and avigation in and over New York City, a charge the police apply in cases related to the navigation of an aircraft.

It's a myth.

:thumbsup: A penny's terminal velocity isn't that great. Too much flat surface area.

 

[MongGrel]

Yeah, I kind of figured the penny thing was a bit of a myth to begin with.

Just came to mind. 2 lbs of falling drone would probably mess someone up though.

 

[Darwin333]

Keep in mind that he easily could have seriously injured or killed someone walking below (he's lucky it got stuck on a ledge).

Was it some super badass drone that weighed 40 pounds and had huge ass metal rotors or something? Otherwise unless the battery hit someone square in the head, and even then I question how "easily deadly" it is, then it's fairly harmless even falling from the sky. The people on the ground are more at risk from the cab drivers than the drone.

 

[Darwin333]

Seriously? Would you mind something falling on YOUR head from 400 feet? He CRASHED. Accidents happen.

Would you like a two ton gasoline powered vehicle shoved up your ass? Probably not but when it's truly an accident we usually don't arrest people and there has a far more risk of death than some plastic falling from the sky. Hell how many people have been killed by consumer drones in the US to date? 100's? 1,000's? Tens of thousands maybe?

How many people have been killed due to accidents in bathtubs this year? Lightning? Pets?

Did the damn thing even damage the building it hit? Couldn't have been that bad of an impact if he had to tell them that he crashed it into the building...

 

[Darwin333]

Used to be a drop a penny off the Empire State Building thing and kill someone potentially, even prior to the interwebs.

Not sure if was a myth or not, but it would build up velocity.

It was just as stupid and only believed by people who didn't understand physics back then as it is today.

PS: It, regardless if "it" is a penny or some plastic, can only build up so much velocity.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Was it some super badass drone that weighed 40 pounds and had huge ass metal rotors or something? Otherwise unless the battery hit someone square in the head, and even then I question how "easily deadly" it is, then it's fairly harmless even falling from the sky. The people on the ground are more at risk from the cab drivers than the drone.

Not sure which model it was but drones capable of this kind of thing start about 3 pounds and go up to 7.5 pounds then on up to 10 pounds and more. Me thinks a 7.5 pound object falling from 400 feet would be -- well kind of like a crane falling on your parked car with you in it.

Don't dismiss the potential consequences of a 3 pound or larger object falling from 400 feet.


Brian

 

[Red Squirrel]

I don't know why drone owners have to be so demonized when stuff like this happens. If it had been a kite or pretty much any other object it would have been a non issue but the second something bad happens with a drone all hell breaks loose. It sucks enough that government wants to regulate every single fun thing that comes out. Been wanting to get a drone but hearing stories like this and hearing about all the regulations makes me wonder if it's worth while. Seems the government is trying to kill the hobby by regulating and imposing ridiculous fines as if you just murdered someone.

Yeah shit happens, how about dealing with it on a case per case basis. In this case, nobody got hurt, so give the guy the drone back and move on.

 

[MongGrel]

It was just as stupid and only believed by people who didn't understand physics back then as it is today.

PS: It, regardless if "it" is a penny or some plastic, can only build up so much velocity.

Yes, I do know the concept of terminal velocity and physics in general.

Perhaps more than many people, I'm not going to argue that one, or argue over possible things.

 

[MongGrel]

I don't know why drone owners have to be so demonized when stuff like this happens. If it had been a kite or pretty much any other object it would have been a non issue but the second something bad happens with a drone all hell breaks loose. It sucks enough that government wants to regulate every single fun thing that comes out. Been wanting to get a drone but hearing stories like this and hearing about all the regulations makes me wonder if it's worth while. Seems the government is trying to kill the hobby by regulating and imposing ridiculous fines as if you just murdered someone.

Yeah shit happens, how about dealing with it on a case per case basis. In this case, nobody got hurt, so give the guy the drone back and move on.

Yeah, but seriously, the first time someone drives a RC thing with a bomb into a high rise building like that 9/11 style on a small scale, you will see major issues.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah, but seriously, the first time someone drives a RC thing with a bomb into a high rise building like that 9/11 style on a small scale, you will see major issues.

Yeah probably what they're scared of, but reality is if someone wants to they'll find a way. You can probably drop a decent amount of C4 in ventilation ducts and then have it go off all at once or something. Or drop thermite packages on top of a gas line and have an ignition system to set it off, and it melts through the line and explodes the gas.

What will be scary is if someone decides it's a fun idea to mount a 1w infrared laser on a drone and fly in a crowd.
I'd say that would be worse than any bomb or shooting. I'd rather die than go blind for the rest of my life.

I'm now on another list. (only the cool people are on all the government lists!)

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Not sure which model it was but drones capable of this kind of thing start about 3 pounds and go up to 7.5 pounds then on up to 10 pounds and more. Me thinks a 7.5 pound object falling from 400 feet would be -- well kind of like a crane falling on your parked car with you in it.

Don't dismiss the potential consequences of a 3 pound or larger object falling from 400 feet.


Brian

The guy just Twitted that he bought it on the internet for $70. That would buy a mini weighing less than 100 grams including the battery.

 

[HeXen]

Yeah, but seriously, the first time someone drives a RC thing with a bomb into a high rise building like that 9/11 style on a small scale, you will see major issues.

That is just irrational fear. The real problem is that people let their irrational fears take away others freedoms despite the fact that there are infinite number of ways for a terrorist to kill people without drones making the regulation of owning a drone completely moot. It's just a 'feel good' 'peace of mind' law that doesn't actually prevent anything. Same with the gun debates despite someone may kill using a potato gun instead.

Either something bad will happen or something bad will happen. No one can actually prevent human willpower from finding a way. They could even outlaw all drones, kites and frisbee's and yet it won't prevent one single murder if they want someone dead.

 

[olds]

Terrorist! Obviously trying to knock down the landmark.

He might have had an M80 for a payload.

 

[Hugo Drax]

i thought the same thing. the dude is definitely a dumbass but wouldn't a ticket and hefty fine be more appropriate?

yeah but I bet 3 years would be a much stronger deterrent.

 

[JTsyo]

Urban areas should be a no fly zone. If you want to fly you should be in an open area like a park. While you can get good footage flying around the city, the more people doing it, the higher the chances of someone screwing up.

 

[Brian Stirling]

yeah but I bet 3 years would be a much stronger deterrent.

Look, the drone hate is strong with governments at all levels and I'd be surprised if they didn't jump at the chance to make an example of him. I'm not sure what the harshest penalty is but there's a good chance he'll discover what that is before this is over.


Brian

 

[mysticjbyrd]

Kinda depends on whether they charge him with 1st or 2nd degree Reckless Endangerment:

http://www.new-york-lawyers.org/reckless-endangerment.html


Keep in mind that he easily could have seriously injured or killed someone walking below (he's lucky it got stuck on a ledge).

I bet you have almost killed hundreds of people in your lifetime.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Kinda depends on whether they charge him with 1st or 2nd degree Reckless Endangerment:

http://www.new-york-lawyers.org/reckless-endangerment.html


Keep in mind that he easily could have seriously injured or killed someone walking below (he's lucky it got stuck on a ledge).

Here's a vid of what he was flying, oh the humanity! Weighs less than a stick of butter. I do agree though, he should not have been flying there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYe9O_qhJWs

 

[mysticjbyrd]

Here's a vid of what he was flying, oh the humanity!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYe9O_qhJWs

Really? lol Even if that fell on someone's head it wouldn't do any serious harm.

 

[Darwin333]

Yeah, but seriously, the first time someone drives a RC thing with a bomb into a high rise building like that 9/11 style on a small scale, you will see major issues.

I don't disagree with the overall statement but the reality is that consumer ready to fly drones simply don't have the ability to lift enough weight in explosives to make much of a dent. I know military grade explosives are pretty impressive but first anyone that can acquire it can develop a delivery method regardless of laws and regulations and more importantly even with .mil stuff the damage is still relatively small. In reality, anything that your average nutjob can strap to a drone and make it fly to any sort of height won't make that big of a boom. You'd cause more causalities by simply setting a backpack down on a crowded sidewalk and walking away.

For a real world example, the bomb used in the Boston Marathon couldn't be strapped to a drone and flown up to the 40th floor and even if it was it would likely cause less death than it did on the ground.

You'd have to build one absurdly bigass homemade drone to carry a payload significant enough to seriously damage a skyscraper.

 

[MrPickins]

Here's a vid of what he was flying, oh the humanity! Weighs less than a stick of butter. I do agree though, he should not have been flying there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYe9O_qhJWs

If this is true, I take back what I said about killing someone, although it could still cause injuries falling from 400 ft.

 

[Darwin333]

yeah but I bet 3 years would be a much stronger deterrent.

The same holds true for speeding which is far more deadly than the drone that hit the building...