Skier almost hit by camera drone in World Cup slalom • Hacker News Board

Re: Skier almost hit by camera drone in World Cup slalom

#31

Post by Piskvorrr » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:11 PM UTC

kbart wrote: post #22

frik wrote: post #7

It was an official TV-video-quadcopter from an Italian local TV company. The FIS was initially okay with it. The quadcopter operater has a pilot license and was suposed to fly only in a specific corridor with no visitors nor athletes underneath. Though, the quadcopter (intentionally?) left the corridore several times in the minutes before the crash (for better videos?). https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=de&sl…

Wow, it was news for me that athletes wear airbags.

It's a new thing, they started coming out of the labs a season or two ago: http://news.pocsports.com/2015/10/13/poc-and-inmotion-introd...

Re: Skier almost hit by camera drone in World Cup slalom

#32

Post by notwhereyouare » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:12 PM UTC

dspillett wrote: post #17

I think the title should be updated a bit here. When I read "drone nearly hits" I imagined it flying by and getting to close on the way passed. The video shows it crashing to the ground with some force. It isn't clear whether this is under its own power (so an issue in directional control by either a pilot error or equipment fault) or due to loss of power (so it hit the ground due to gravity). Either way it could hav…

in the video, the skier mentions that he felt something and just kept on going. so, it very well might have hit him

Re: Skier almost hit by camera drone in World Cup slalom

#33

Post by Piskvorrr » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:13 PM UTC

...and won that one, big time: nowadays, just suggest that the road is not exclusively owned by cars, and watch the foaming-at-the-mouth flamewar.

Re: Skier almost hit by camera drone in World Cup slalom

#34

Post by barrystaes » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:13 PM UTC

In other news: Moon nearly hits earth.

Re: Skier almost hit by camera drone in World Cup slalom

#35

Post by the_mitsuhiko » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:15 PM UTC

Piskvorrr wrote: post #33

...and won that one, big time: nowadays, just suggest that the road is not exclusively owned by cars, and watch the foaming-at-the-mouth flamewar.

Eh. Times have changed. In many cities you are the idiot if you are in a car.

Re: Skier almost hit by camera drone in World Cup slalom

#36

Post by tcfunk » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:16 PM UTC

Maybe it's a translation thing, but I love how calmly the skier talks about the incident afterward. It would have been very easy to take the "F that drone pilot!" road, but instead he just says "Please be more careful next time."

Re: Skier almost hit by camera drone in World Cup slalom

#37

Post by the_mitsuhiko » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:16 PM UTC

pj_mukh wrote: post #29

Seems like a malfunction on a homemade rig. Possibly throttle cutout when descending? Why the pilot would insist on using this on what seems like a professional job is beyond me. The industry is coalescing around a couple of field tested professional rigs (DJI products for instance). I hate all these FAA regulations around stuff people do in their backyards but at a professional event like this (with this many people…

No idea about italy but austria has strict regulations for drones. So this is already happening anyways.

Re: Skier almost hit by camera drone in World Cup slalom

#38

Post by _yy » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:17 PM UTC

Piskvorrr wrote: post #33

...and won that one, big time: nowadays, just suggest that the road is not exclusively owned by cars, and watch the foaming-at-the-mouth flamewar.

In the US, maybe, but for sure not in Europe. We don't even have a word for "jaywalking" in Germany.

Re: Skier almost hit by camera drone in World Cup slalom

#39

Post by frik » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:17 PM UTC

kbart wrote: post #22

frik wrote: post #7

It was an official TV-video-quadcopter from an Italian local TV company. The FIS was initially okay with it. The quadcopter operater has a pilot license and was suposed to fly only in a specific corridor with no visitors nor athletes underneath. Though, the quadcopter (intentionally?) left the corridore several times in the minutes before the crash (for better videos?). https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=de&sl…

Wow, it was news for me that athletes wear airbags.

It's very new.

"The airbag is in this debut season by no means standard. Because many drivers believe he would impede on the track. Others fear aerodynamic deficiencies and malfunctions. In addition, the Italian manufacturer Dainese many teams not supplied as outfitters. And so had the sixth race this winter in addition to Mayer only five further downhill in Val Gardena over the air bag striped, four Austrians and two Canadians." (from the source above)

Re: Skier almost hit by camera drone in World Cup slalom

#40

Post by itgoon » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:19 PM UTC

shocks wrote: post #24

I used to fly remote control aeroplanes as a hobby. There's a really strong culture of having a licence and insurance before you're allowed to fly solo. You have to pass a test before you can get insurance, and there are more tests if you want to fly around spectators (stunt shows, etc). This seems to be completely missing in the drone community. I quizzed some drone enthusiasts about it and they responded with "meh"…

There isn't really a drone community. With RC, almost everybody involved was an enthusiast who would meet with other enthusiasts.

Anybody interested, even for a few minutes, can get a drone. This is the RC world's "Eternal September".