Cheam24

[link]http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=59975&sid=17097164&con_type=3&d_str=20080114&fc=1[/link]

[link]http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2211996.ece[/link]

Hi everybody
Here is an interesting story that was in the newspaper a few days ago. Both these stories referred to the incident; slight difference in spelling of the surname.
Cheam24

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Published: 06 Feb 2009

A MODEL aircraft nut crippled a fellow fan by flying a remote controlled helicopter into his HEAD.
Lo Kwok-Wah, 46, was in a coma for months and is now confined to a wheelchair after his head was cut open by the spinning rotor of the 1.5m long model chopper.

The blade sliced a 20cm gash in his head, leaving the dad-of-two with brain damage and unable to move his left arm and leg, a court in Hong Kong was told.

Lo had been watching fellow enthusiast Chan Man-king, 40, fly the £2,500 model helicopter on a piece of parkland where model-aircraft hobbyists met in January last year.

Alarmed at the way Chan was flying the helicopter, Lo shouted out a warning to him to be careful seconds before the helicopter went out of control and hit him.

At a magistrates' court hearing, Chan, a baker, was found guilty of the rare charge of recklessly or negligently causing an aircraft to endanger a person.

He was fined £440, the maximum possible fine for the offence.

His conviction followed lengthy legal arguments over whether the 6kg model helicopter could be categorised as an aircraft to allow Chan to be convicted of the offence under the Air Navigation Ordinance.

Magistrate Jason Wan told the defendant that model aircraft enthusiasts, like car drivers, had to consider the safety of those around them.

“You should have known the risks,” he said.

“It is clear you flew the helicopter low without due regard for the safety of other people.”


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Druss

Ya, I had read about this in other papers. Those two papers give very different accounts of the accident. One from the defendant and the other from the plaintiff.

jerrymac

My Feedback: (2)

Seems kinda funny (strange) how they keep refering to them as TOYS. I don't consider them 'toys' once they get to be bigger than the palm of your hand. I have seen some pics of people that got injured pretty bad from getting hit by a HBK2 and they aren't really all that big.

DumbDawg

My Feedback: (3)

OII VAY!!! That was a big heli too... a 6Kg heli isn't a small heli... certainly NOT a toy either... lucky to be alive more like it...

play safe

Zim-uh-tosa

Wow, I have seen some pretty bad slashes to a guys legs from the blades of a heli but this is harsh! I wonder if they are truly going to prosecute the pilot as if he was in an actual "aircraft"? Sounds like they may not differentiate the "toy" from the real thing...It's like the day I almost got a DUI (1989)on my bicycle...I sweet talked myself out of that one I guess. Prolly just got real lucky!

I can see a ban on those FPV systems in the future, thanks to the RC enthused drug dealers.....

News Article: A MINIATURE toy helicopter was used to try to drop drugs into a prison, it was revealed yesterday. Astonished guards raised the alarm after the remote control chopper was seen zooming over the walls at night time. They spotted the 12-inch long craft on CCTV screens at Elmley Prison and saw it had a small load slung underneath the fuselage — thought to contain drugs.
LOL


Z

DumbDawg

My Feedback: (3)

rotflmoa... Then they saw it make a return trip with guns and a ladder.... The guards suspected something was up but would have to wait until after coffee break to investigate...

bad400

in 98 or 99 when i was liveing in elpaso tx.
someone had used a big nitro heli. it looked like the huey.it was shot down comeing over the rio grande in to the USA with like 3 kilo`s of coke in it
the heli was the size of a coffee table. not sure actual motor size or the actual size of the heli but it was big

warpnine

Here's a YouTube video I saw a while ago, showing the "KCMO Police Department" (?) evaluation a RC helicopter for surveillance of various tactical situations. It ends with a commercial for giving them some money to implement such a program, but I have no idea if they ever got it. Wonder if other police departments are using RC helicopters?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmJHI0BoQZU

Dave

downunderdog

Seems like a plane would be a much better/cheaper transport method than a heli for smuggling stuff across the border. You can get GPS guided autopilots that will basically just fly the plane to where you program it to. Much more stable than a heli, and more range and/or payload capability. I wonder how much of that is happening now - with the advancements in battery and RC technology over the last several years, hobby grade stuff now cheaply does what cutting edge technology could do years ago.

downunderdog

Looks like the Las Vegas Police and the FBI in the states, and a bunch of Canadian organizations use the "draganflyer"... I think it's a little over $2000 for the setup, so if it saves risking people's lives IMO it's a good investment.

http://www.draganfly.com/our-customers/government.php

homeunt

My Feedback: (3)

I'm just glad
that the UAV aren't armed just yet...
and also not commercialized outside the deployed US Armed Forces
There can be "Accidents" with them too right?

Gee.. poor guy, lost half of his body control cause his buddy lost control of his helicopter.

I think it is safe to say that to be prepared and protect yourself at all cost.
[P.S. If the UAVs get ever commercialized or armed, I will be sitting on my roof with a shotgun]

warpnine

Check this video out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZCH1492CzA


Dave

homeunt

My Feedback: (3)

well warplane, at least that heli can't shoot unless its controlled to
UAV's fly by themselves and take pictures by themselves

funflier

Toys, not sure what heli you have but all my heli manuals all say the same thing as they are NOT toys.
I still nurse broken hand from a Esky King ll that took off one day on its own into my face due to a bad ESC that went to full power when the battery was connected. I was lucky I put a sacrifical knee into the blade and only broke the bone in my hand and bruised my knee. Now I am very careful when around electric helios.
Keep in mind that if you swing a say a 3 foot sword the most speed you can achive is about tip speed of 40mph if you are really good at it where as the tip speed of your King ll is at a low of about 140 at hover mph and and can be as much as 180mph and were talking about a much shorter blade. That puts it in the range of 250 - 300 ft per second. Longer blades have a higher tip speed up to say 200+ mph and climbing into 300 in some cases even though the rpm can be the same (longer arm on the lever).
Yes on a full size heli you can break the sound barrier on tip speed hence more then 2 blades for one of many reasons.
Pictue below says it all, not sure what forum member uses it (thanks to you whoever you are) but its a good reminder that they are not toys

helicrazedout

ya my belt cp also gave me a nasty cut i was connecting battery [ut remote on grass for 2 secs and hand slipped and hit throttle up to about onlt 20% power and it cut like an inch in to my hand nothing broken luckily just lots of blood! WARNING TO EVERYONE NEW OR OLD RC HELIS ARE NOT TOYS ALWAYS BE ALERT AND TREAT WITH WITH THE RESPECT THEY DESERVE!

DumbDawg

My Feedback: (3)

I was killed once by an RC heli too... Lucky for me I'm already brain dead so nothing was hurt... phew!!! it was close tho... play safe...

happy hel'n

homeunt

My Feedback: (3)

gee...
I went into a sword fight with my Belt-CP couple times..
I think It's fair to say it's safe to have something in your hands + paying attention 24/7 when you're flying a heli