This is not good for us...

Would have been even worse if that thing had hit him!

My thoughts ...
This seems to be a professional rig (my guess).
Some one messed up ... make sure that this person gets his fingers slapped ... not the drone business!

Could have been a tragedy.  The  "fault" may not be a person at all.  These are electronic systems, with multiple points of potential failure.  DJI has thoughtfully tried to mitigate some of the risks but there is ALWAYS  potential for electronic component failure.  We should never loose sight of this reality.  As others may have noted in the past, it is about managing risk, continuing the development of system redundancy, and quality control in manufacturing and maintenance.  

MJones Posted at 2015-12-23 19:02
Could have been a tragedy.  The  "fault" may not be a person at all.  These are electronic systems,  ...

The pilot is responsible to do a risk assessment ... !?

As you say ... there is always a risk of component failure ... and there are a lot of bystanders at this event ... at least they should have used a parachute.

Also ... This event could easily have been captured with "safer" camera equipment ... !

I am just assuming that this was a professional rig used by the production team ... I might be mistaking ...

yeah its all over the news now.  A professional broadcasting company was running it.  

Notice the size of those props?  very big, Im guessing this is a quad platform carrying a dslr (notice the camera assembly flying off to the right, compare that size to the skiers head).  

If I had to guess, my thinking is that they ran out of battery power trying to get 'one more shot' and it dived.  We all know how limited the battery life is on these things when airborne, now imagine trying to cover an event thats hours long... makes me wonder if they had enough spare batteries on hand...

Still all this aside, why did they feel the need to have a 'straight-down' shot?  not very interesting to watch for a skiing even imo, and as we can clearly see.... VERY risky.  Im sure the FAA will be using this 'promo' for thier defense of heavy drone restrictions.... whats worse is, these were "professionals"

Not good. This is strong video evidence (right or wrong) that will push the public to not allow these rigs in the sky at all. All it takes is one group (one person really) to take this issue on and we're done.

Shame what could have been a great industry is now turning into a sh$& show in the sky ¡

That could have been a terrible situation.

I wonder what really happened. These are mechanical units. Any failure can happen, its not always just the pilots fault.

That thing was really big, considering it was just a quad.   6 motors should be minimum for something that big..... 8 would be better.

JasonA Posted at 2015-12-23 13:16
yeah its all over the news now.  A professional broadcasting company was running it.  

Notice the s ...

whats worse is, these were "professionals".
No human endeavor is safe from stupidity. Every one of those airshow pilots who turned themselves into pink mist were "professionals." Flying directly over the skiers' heads was pure stupidity. That is exactly why the FAA tells you not to fly over people. Technology cannot be made stupid proof.