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Comment by falcolas | Hacker News Reader

There's a general lack of awareness of how dangerous an impact from a falling drone can be, especially with drones so easily obtained (and so easily disabled).

These are 4-5lb objects moving at terminal velocity (or faster) hitting people. That's not just dangerous, and I would hesitate to call your average drone owner an "imbecile".

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How is someone not an imbecile if they are old enough to own and operate a device that weighs 4 or 5 lbs, moves at a high rate of speed, and has sharp blades that spin at a high rate of speed as well and doesn't make the connection that they are dangerous? If your "average" drone owner doesn't understand that, your average drone owner is an idiot. Since you asked!

Nobody, and I do mean nobody, spends a lot of time thinking about all of the possible failure modes until they're made aware of them (either by actively watching them fail or being told how they can fail). I say this from the point of view of a programmer, multirotor pilot, general aviation pilot, and uncle.

For example, what failure modes should you prepare for when flying a multirotor? A few I've personally run into:

- Battery exhaustion (slow descent, loss of power, potential for battery fire)

- Gyro failure (chaotic and unpredictable behavior; uncontrollable)

- Battery Fire (unpredictable loss of power, flying incendiary bomb)

- Running outside of receiver range (behavior depends on the multirotor's autopilot, and the range differs based on your environment; also caused by jamming equipment)

- Flying in a different mode than you're expecting (usually an immediate and violent crash after getting a bit of altitude)

- Prop/motor failure (immediate and complete loss of control, unpredictable flight path to inevitable crash)

- Loss of POV stream (probably a crash, depends on the autopilot and pilot's reflexes at hitting the "oh, shit" button or reorientating to external visual mode)

- Bird/drone strike: Any and all of the above

Each of these scenarios requires a different response and preparation; you may realize your drone is dangerous, but did you realize it's also an incendiary device in potentia?

I dont disagree with you. What I am saying is some people can look at a device, in the simplest of ways, and think to themselves... hmmm, perhaps I shouldnt fly this directly over people, or in the path of aircraft, etc. Perhaps I should be careful, take precautions, maybe have some training. And then there are others, that don't. Theyre fucking idiots. They could be told not do shit. They could be trained to properly operate the equipment. There could be laws against certain behavior, and quess what... theyll still act like idiots, b/c that is exactly what they are. And that is point... put anything into the hands of an idiot and it becomes dangerous, a spoon, a rubber band, a piece of toilet paper, a gun, a car, anything.

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