In a rather ironic segment of FOX & Friends last week, Dave Mosher from Popular Science was on to talk about the use of drones and the FAA’s recent actions regarding licensing requirements for certain drone operations. Unfortunately, he crashed the drone he was flying in the studio on live TV.
First of all, it was a pretty stupid move to fly a DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ in a crowned indoor area. There is all kinds WiFi interference floating around in a TV studio, which means that it’s not the best place to be flying a drone. Even DJI has heavy-duty nets to enclose the flight area when it demonstrates their capabilities at trade shows.
DJI Booth at CES 2015
And all of the people in the immediate area makes matters even worse. Thankfully, he had propeller guards on the Phantom or it would have been much worse.
For his part, Mosher acknowledged the error and apologized to hobbyists for his mistake.
For the record: Flying indoors = bad idea. My plan was to just hover, then land. I apologize to hobbyists everywhere. #hindsight2020
— Dave Mosher (@DaveMosher) February 4, 2015
Unfortunately, the damage has been done with just terrible publicity to hobbyist pilots everywhere. There was no real discussion of safety standards and best practices for flying UAVs.
Additionally, there was no clear distinction made about the FAA’s rules for commercial versus hobbyist pilots other than the intro portion and some confusing statements in the middle. The combination of the two just muddied the water further.
The Academy of Model Aeronautics sent letters to both Fox News and Popular Science expressing its concern for the way the segment was conducted, calling it unsafe and irresponsible.
This demonstration set a poor example for those new to model aviation, and it goes against the message of safety that our community stands for. Basic research into safety precautions and common sense guidelines would have shown that this was not a responsible use of this technology. -AMA
Sadly, this segment did far more damage than good for the image of the bustling drone market.
I have reached out to DJI for comment on the FOX & Friends segment and will update this post with any response I receive.
[Updated Feb. 9, 2015]
I received a response from DJI regarding this incident, which is quoted below:
DJI is continually working to improve new pilot education and raise awareness of safe flying practices, which is why we have a checklist in the Vision app specifically discouraging new pilots from flying close to people and in areas with dense radio frequencies.
Without knowing the specifics of this demo, I can say that we do not recommend inexperienced pilots to fly indoors without GPS stabilization. Additionally flying nose forward (which changes orientation) and in an environment with significant radio frequency interference without netting is a challenge that we would discourage first time pilots from attempting.
As noted in my original article above, we have no idea whether radio interference played a roll in this crash; however, the comments from DJI regarding flying nose forward seem to echo the consensus among experienced hobbyists who are joining the conversation about this incident in the comments below and in other forums around the web.
1. The kid killed in Brooklyn was not killed by a quadcopter. He was killed by a helicopter while conducting 3D style flying. Helicopters have significantly larger propeller blades which carry much more mass and inertia than the small blades quadcopters use.
2. The pilot in this video was irresponsible by yawing the vehicle 180 degrees. Doing this essentially reverses the roll and pitch controls because the vehicle is facing backwards. Even the most experienced pilots would have trouble conducting that maneuver in such a small confined space. IOC mode (intelligent orientation mode) might have helped him but I believe using this mode requires good GPS signal which I’m sure he did not have in that studio.
The Pilot, the news anchors, and Fox news were all extremely irresponsible during this segment.
Thanks for both observations David. Good insight on the pilot error.
Completely unacceptable reporting of the incident killing the Radio Controlled Helicopter Pilot in Brooklyn. Clueless operation of a Radio Controlled Hobby Device. Clueless knowledge of the Hobby / Industry, the FAA direction in these matters, and a basic waste of air time by misleading the public over a consumer hobby item.
This is a prime example of how the so called “expert” isn’t one. He is an editor in a magazine and has no clue as to what he is doing with the Phantom. He isn’t a hobbyist at all. What he proved is that there is no need for regulation. He just needs to get a clue. If he didn’t know what he was doing then he should have done the talking and had a skilled professional do the flying and in a controlled area away from the people. Better yet… NOT FLY A PHANTOM INDOORS!! what he proved is that not just anyone can fly a quad. it requires skill and practice. nothing that he even has. I have been at this hobby for almost 30 years and have taught many people how to fly PROPERLY and SAFELY!! One of the first things that people say to me is “Wow I never thought it was that hard….” And when I am done with training they thank me for keeping them and other safe by teaching them to do things the right way. Just because there is an AUTOPILOT doesn’t mean that you don’t need training. It is a skull and all skill take practice and instruction to master. The Government need not regulate this. In fact it would be better for them to stay as far away from this as possible because they will make it worse. The AMA has a list of guidelines that works well for these and so long as you are an informed and trained on how the craft works you will be fine. But regulation is not the key here… Education is.
Well said! Following AMA guidelines is the first lesson. Proper training and stick time is a must. Flying in front of people and expecilly in front of cameras can rattle even experienced pilots.
I want a retake of this film! This makes all us responsible Pilots look bad!
I am a huge supporter of Fox but this is impeccably wrong!!
Dont normally agree with Democrats about Fox News being wrong but this time I do!!!!
What kinda idiot station has some one so new to flying, that the pilot cant even hold the “Quad” (not Drone) still facing forward! Then they ask him to turn the thing around backwards!
Like they knew he would fail and now are going to blame how dangerous this is!
1 He should not be flying inside! Get some warm clothes on and film outside!
2 This is why there are AMA Fields with instructors and Insurance! To teach you how to fly!
3 A newbie inside?????? REALLY?????
4 Fox just didnt do the research here!
I think we should ask the AMA to go on Fox and do a proper job of it.
They need a Good Public information officer who’s whole job is to help educate the public and the media to the hobby/industry. There are so many good uses that never get publicized…..
Popular Science should publish a public apology to hobbyists and ask (if not demand) to redo the segment in a safe manner.
AMA are you listening?
Surely the headline of the article should be ” Fox News Drones talking about other drones”
Why would Fox hire this idiot to do a demo of a multi rotor on TV when he obviously has no idea what he is doing? It was obvious that he changed the orientation to “nose in” and completely lost it. What a joke and a complete discredit to the real professionals. Fox, learn who you hire to come on your show to do a demo before you do!!!
Bro. They should have invited you to that show to control it instead.
This was without doubt the most irresponsible piece of journalism I have ever had the misfortune to watch. As the owner of one of the worlds largest retailers of RC Helicopters and RC Multicopters I was completely horrified to see such an inexperienced “expert” flying inside and on live TV. Whoever does your safety assessments should be fired on the spot. Similarly the story contained multiple factual errors particularly involving the fatality, which as others have pointed out was not with this type of aircraft at all. Your segment has done untold damage to the reputation of responsible hobbyists. The only good thing to come out of this video is that Dave Mosher didn’t actually manage to hurt anyone although it wasn’t through lack of trying on his part apparently.
ROOKIE! Way to go FOX NEWS. Bring in a dope to demonstrate something that requires some training, and technical understanding.
wow Fox needs to make sure they have someone with some credibility to fly a MULTI ROTOR on their show, this guy was a joke, his stick movements were way to jerky and not smooth at all.
leave it to us licensed professionals PLEASE. Articles like this Mr Mosher do so much damage to professionals and hobbyists alike.
Exactly. This was a classic situation of orientation fail. Quadcopter spins around, forward/backwards controls are inverted and instead of flying towards himself he throttles full speed into the crew. I feel bad for the camera operators who had an inexperienced hack fly a phantom into them.
It is sad once again to see information not being reported correctly yet again. As said in another post, the young man who died was flying a helicopter and not a quad copter. They are two completely separate machines that operate on different principles. If you are going to report news, please do so correctly.
This is the kind of pilot who destroys our hobby, thanks dude……
Bert Kammerer is right, as well as all the other hobbies that have comment here. This guy knows nothing about the hobby or UAS (Unmaned Areal Systems). I have been flying for 16 years starting with fixed wing (airplanes) added rotor wing (helicopters) later on and recently expanded to multi rotors. Roman Pirozek (the young man killed referenced in the story) was a team pilot for Align Helicopters flying a 700 class helicopter, not a multi rotor. Fox go google Bert Kammerer and look what he flies and does with a helicopter, this is the kind of “Professional” you want to come into your studio.
Popular Science is not a magazine read by serious hobbyists, so it does not surprise me that the idiot cannot fly nose-in. His ego got the better of him, he obviously has never tried that before! It also does not surprise me that Fox news reached out to a pseudo science mag editor instead of the AMA, wbo would have sent a real pro.
It’s painfully clear that the operator of the aircraft was not checked out for this indoor flight. I personally think that if anyone is intending to fly indoors they should either have the experience with a similar aircraft or have an experienced co-pilot on standby in case there’s any trouble.
The host has done a great disservice to the public.
I think the biggest take away of this FAIL, is the comment confusing the unfortunate death of the heli pilot as someone being killed by a “drone”.
People in the general public who are not well informed about these devices will come away with the thought that all these devices are dangerous and deadly.
AMA and general hobbyists should strongly pursue FOX to issue a correction about the young mans death, as well as the fact that NOBODY HAS BEEN KILLED BY A MULTIROTOR AIRCRAFT! Please stop calling them drones!
I totally agree!! The word “DRONE” is what is driving me nuts!! It is not a drone…. Not even really a UAV… but they went on this crazy train of calling them what they are not… AMA really needs to step up and handle it… I am thinking of starting a campaign called “It is not a DRONE!!!!”
okay, I agree with a majority of what you’re saying except this. Quads certainly can be dangerous and potentially deadly in the hands of a boob (like in the video above).
Put a set of carbon fiber props on a phantom, and there’s going to be serious pain and/or severe injury when it hits someone.
Fail to watch what you’re doing when picking one up from a crash could easily render you one less finger.
Have one spool up on you while trying to fix it could inflict damage of any kind on a person.
The Heli pilot who was killed (and his father) were both experienced hobbyists. And although the Heli that was being flown was more dangerous because of it’s longer blades, the real danger is in the rpm’s these devices are capable of generating… any piece of plastic spinning at that speed is going to inflict lacerations or broken bones on contact.
And every single person entering this hobby needs to enter the sport with the hair on their arms standing straight up. This is the only way new hobbyists will respect the hobby enough to employ safety standards above being impatient or refusing to master smaller crafts before taking control of a bigger craft.
Although you’re right I would hope that a “boob” who doesn’t even know how to fly a drone without crashing it isn’t going to be running out and buying a phantom with carbon fiber blades. I would think most novice flyers are going to get a cheap drone to learn how to fly first. The idea that people who have no idea how to fly are going to be piloting these heavier very expensive drones that can actually cause damage if they crash into something is pretty silly.