Science & Tech
Watch out!! That drone is coming too faaaast...
Now that we see so many drones, not the big ones - those you actually can't see - but smaller with cameras, gimbals, some good pounds, and blades. YES! A 2.82-pounder (DJI Phantom 3) RC-aircraft with four blazing fast-rotating sharp blades flying around our heads is something that brings some concerns these days.
Have you ever wonder what happens if a drone crashes into your face?
An 18-month-long study, conducted by Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence, using a crash test dummy might have some answers and good excuses for you not to try this at home.
But, event though the videos are kind of scary, the study shows that smaller drones, mostly plastic ones, are flexible enough to absorb a significant amount of impact energy.
David Arterburn, ASSURE's investigator says: “A common misconception is that every drone is a rock so when it hits you, it’s going to hurt you like a rock.”
They have crash-tested 16 different and popular consumer drones as well as various objects and payloads (batteries, woodblocks), with weights ranging from 0.71 to 13.2 lbs, hitting head and neck of the dummy. The tests were not meant to be a YouTuber stupid doings video but to help improve safety and FAA recommendations toward a safety global standard.
The most common injuries were lacerations, cuts, and bruises, with just one serious eye damage. The tests were conducted using bladeless drones so it's much likely that EVERY accident involving flying drones and a human will have some cut injuries do add up to the weight impact itself. So, one of the recommendations is to use blade guards and even though it seems pretty obvious, most people don't care to use them.
Overall, an accidental death-by-drone should be fairly rare.
But who wants to give it a try? Count me out of this one! :)
Tags: Drone, Crash Test