Was Talking About Safety Of The Aircraft At The Time

It's probably important when you're talking about how safe your UAV is to operate that you don't crash it during the presentation ... particularly if that presentation is being shown live on national television.

But that's exactly what happened to Popular Science Online Editor Dave Mosher appearing on a segment of Fox & Friends on February 4. He was invited on the show to discuss use of the aircraft for purposes like photography, as well as the FAA's regulatory efforts.

According to the Photography Bay website, the UAV was a DJI Phantom 2 Vision + ... the type that wound up on the White House lawn at 3:00 a.m. a couple of weeks ago. The demonstration was taking place at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas... where you would expect a lot of Wi-Fi and other RF interference to be floating around the convention center where the event was being held. 

During the demonstration, the UAV suddenly darted away from the set and into the area where the cameras were shooting the program, and the crew scattered away from the oncoming aircraft. No amount of explaining could undo the bad publicity done live on national television.

The academy of Model Aeronautics contacted both Fox News and Popular Science, saying in a letter that the 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."

In an response sent to Photography Bay, DJI said that it does not recommend that "inexperienced" pilots fly their UAVs indoors, and that the checklist included with their aircraft specifically discourages "new 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."

(Image from file)

FMI: Fox News Video