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Man Killed By His Own Radio-Controlled Helicopter In Brooklyn
An anonymous reader sends this news from the Wall Street Journal:
"A 19-year-old model helicopter enthusiast was killed Thursday when a toy helicopter he was flying struck him in the head, a law-enforcement official said. Victim Roman Pirozek 'was known to be aggressive in his flying and often executed tricks. He was executing a trick when he was struck,' the official said. Mr. Pirozek – depicted in [this YouTube video] he posted in July — was flying a remote-controlled helicopter worth about $2,000 when it struck him, cutting off the top of his head, the official said. The Woodhaven, Queens, resident was pronounced dead at the scene. His father was with him at the time of the accident, the official said."
No, people don't care about the death of a man's child, even if he was 19. Think how his parents, his family and friends are feeling right now.
If you wouldn't say it to their faces, don't fucking say it at all.
They are definitely NOT toys
The high performance ones have 5 to 10 HP motors
The flying style currently popular among the top pilots is to fly very close to the ground and very close to the pilot
So naturally, the guys with less talent want to fly like the pros
I think this is kinda crazy..no room for error
Maybe if the Shuttle Columbia was trying to do inverted tricks on re-entry.
Otherwise, it's not much different than someone juggling chainsaws that are running.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
It's his fault for not taking proper precautions. He was 19, an adult, and apparently had many, many hours of previous experience.
If all of that didn't instill in him the need to take basic precautions, what other conclusion can one make?
If I'm driving down a back road at 60 mph, stiff arming the steering wheel because that's how the cool kids drive, yacking on my phone while leaning against the door and don't make it through a turn, I can guarantee people would call me a dumbass or stupid for my actions.
This is no different. To bring up a phrase which will immediately get me marked as Troll, personal responsibility. It was his responsibility to make sure both he and anyone everyone else watching was in a safe location before attempting these stunts. He failed to do that and suffered the consequences.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I don't know how this guy's flying club/park was set up, but at my local flying club, there is a fairly large "no man's land" between where the model aircraft fly and where the pilots are supposed to stand. Sometimes pilots and planes violate this separation (e.g. a pilot crossing the space to retrieve a damaged aircraft, or a plane being taxied through the space on it's way to or from the "runway"), but in general this no man's land is respected by everyone and accidents occur far away from anyone's head. Also, aircraft are never made to cross over the audience or pilot areas (I'm not part of the club so I don't know if this is an enforced rule, or just something everyone follows out of courtesy).
What this guy does in the TFV (The Featured Video) is totally stupid and reckless, and is just asking for trouble. Not only does he fly the thing over and near a parking lot (basically an audience area), but he flies it within a couple of feet of both himself (sitting down at a table at the end of the video) and another couple of individuals. As one youtube commenter posted, that thing is a flying chainsaw; you just don't fly it that close to anyone's head. This guy was a cocky, stupid individual, and sorry to say, he paid the ultimate price. Again, sorry to say, good thing it was him rather than somebody else. Far from being a freak accident, I bet you this was entirely predictable and also entirely avoidable with a few basic safely measures (and I'm not talking about wearing helmets). Maybe this will serve as a lesson to the others flying at that club, and they'll actually put into place a few basic safety rules to protect both themselves and the audience from this type of thing in the future.