Thousands of people had gathered on Central Saturday in Albuquerque to take part in the highly popular Summerfest event. Accompanying the thousands were also two drones, flying right above the crowd. Unfortunately, one of the drones lost control and came crashing down. Luckily for the crowd, the drone didn’t hit anyone and instead got caught in a tree.
The city is now looking into what can be done to prevent such occurrences. Obviously, such mishaps can cause great damage and even injury to bystanders. According to an eyewitness, they saw a drone flying overhead and all of a sudden, it began to descend towards the crowd. The crashing drone sent people ducking to prevent any injury.
Another eyewitness claimed that the drone was almost going to hit a car, but instead it eventually came down on a tree. There were a few people sitting under the tree, but thankfully they did not get injured. While no one was hurt in the whole ordeal, this is the second Summerfest taking place this year in which a drone flying over the crowd has crashed.
The previous Summerfest ended up with a person having a minor cut because the drone crashed on him. The FAA has been vigilant in terms of spelling out drone usage regulations and it states that UAVs should not be flown over large crowds because the vehicles have dangerous propellers or blades that can severely injure people.
Since the blades are spinning very fast, there is a great chance that anyone who comes in contact with them will suffer minor to severe cuts. In addition, some drones are heavier than others, so if they crash land on a person’s head, it may cause further injury. Most drones that are allowed for public usage can weigh up to 55 pounds, which in no way is an acceptable weight to come crashing down on your head, especially when you’re not expecting it and can’t jump out of the way.
You should find it deliciously ironic that nobody cares about full-scale helicopters, which have multiple crashed per year causing dozens of fatalities. With drones it’s always “Someone ALMOST got hurt….” Or, “Someone actually needed a BandAid™….” And the hobby guy made no mention of prop guards, which make these small drones almost harm-proof. Notice the prop guards on the drone in the tree????
Number of people killed by multirotor copters: ZERO.
Number of injuries more than a BandAid™: ZERO.
They SEND people to hospitals who are ultimately released because they suffered no real injuries.
Educate yourself. Do some Internet research. Do a YouTube search for “drone crashes.” Count the injuries and property damage. Then do the same search for “helicopter crashes.” Better break out a pen and pad and might wanna hide the kids, because the carnage and property damage are insane. Think about that next time a news helicopter flies over your house. And you’re worried about a 3 lb. drone?
I was recently at Summerfest and a girlfriend sat in a city owned chair that was broken. She hit the ground hard. So do we ban chairs. She could have broke her back. The risk is so minimal. Let’s be an independent thinking city and let’s not jump on the media hype bandwagon.