Wow. Not only did he destroy his new toy in 60 seconds, but he might be liable for criminal charges. Aren't there laws about flying without a license, flying without filing a flight plan, and so on?
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
It's amazing what a tiny little ball that thing crumpled up into. The cameraman's pretty lucky the wind wasn't blowing his direction.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
It looked black during takeoff, so it seems the entire outer hull of it was stripped off in the crash and tumble. Amazing the pilot didn't break his back or neck.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Score one for stupidity.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
What I want to know is, what idiots failed to talk him out of it? It looked like there was a good half dozen of them standing around watching him trying to get someone killed.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
If only he'd gone a little higher, we'd have another candidate for the Darwin Awards.
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
quote:Originally posted by Reverend: What I want to know is, what idiots failed to talk him out of it? It looked like there was a good half dozen of them standing around watching him trying to get someone killed.
Would you want to run up to a helicopter when the rotors were spinning and the pilot was hell bent on taking off? Air traffic control might have denied him, but the shmuck in the tower probably didn't know the pilot was just a student, if the pilot was even in contact with them. That's one of those times where it's safer to back off and let stupid people be stupid.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
It looked like the people who showed up after the crash were other pilots or employees of the airport. They seemed to know the cameraman or someone else off camera, but didn't seem to be involved until they saw and heard the copter flopping around. But yah... the cameraman and whoever else is talking should have physically restrained him instead of rolling tape.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Exactly. The film only starts when he's already at the controls and has the engine up to speed. If it was me and I couldn't talk him out of it or restrain him, then I'd walk right off site and not look back. Sticking around and watching makes a person partly responsible IMO. Standing there and filming it, knowing what's liable to happen is just immoral.
I shan't go into details, but I've been present when someone wanted to do something very foolish and potentially life threatening before. Fortunately the threat "if you're doing that, I'll walk away" was sufficient to make that person re-consider.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
quote:Originally posted by Da_bang80: Would you want to run up to a helicopter when the rotors were spinning and the pilot was hell bent on taking off? Air traffic control might have denied him, but the shmuck in the tower probably didn't know the pilot was just a student, if the pilot was even in contact with them. That's one of those times where it's safer to back off and let stupid people be stupid.
Looks like it was just a small general aviation airport. Most likely it doesn't have a tower.