Drone arrest

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Rather than get arrested this guy should be given an award by the tourist office.

Certainly an interesting video but it does pose a couple of questions I asked myself though:

Q1. Would I feel safe with drones being operated by UN-licensed teenagers flying around above my head?

A. No!

Q1 Would I feel comfortable knowing that anybody with a drone could be 'following me around' filming me in any situation from an unseen position - including for instance inputting my pin number in a cash machine?

A. No!

The husband and son of a woman I work with set up a business doing aerial photography of local businesses and estates a few months back using a similar set up and in the first week managed to crash a drone in to parked e-type Jag!

Carl

Playing a piano whilst flying a drone is very dangerous
and should be discouraged ......... Take up a trumpet!

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I'm not sure how being unlicensed suddenly makes them dangerous. The quadcopter pilot was clearly very skilled. "Endangering Lives" is a bit over the top [excuse pun].
These things are no more dangerous than a flock of birds on the road or a dog darting out in front of you. To a pedestrian the risk of injury is extremely low, even if flown into your head on purpose as they have rotor guards, you won't be decapitated
No more dangerous than being hit in the face by a frisbie. Besides, unless you are stone deaf the quadcopter makes quite a noise, so you'd hear it well before it was close to you.
The Phantom quadcopters don't just drop out of the sky if they run out of power, they have built-in safety that automatically returns them to the origin point should they drift out of transmitter range of run below a certain power level.

I don't think anybody stated that being unlicensed suddenly made them dangerous. Surely the reverse is true - they are potentially dangerous therefore a license is required. Fact is - in France, it is a legal requirement if you wish to operate a drone that you must complete a training course and be licensed to do so and flying a drone over a populated area requires specific written permission.

Regardless of whatever skill level he posses, he had not completed the training course, was not licensed and had not sought written approval for the flight (presumably knowing it would be refused as he was unlicensed). Let's not forget- he was running a business doing this so should have been aware of the laws.

Perhaps I am overly risk averse but "will it decapitate me?" is not the level I usually set the bar at when deciding whether something is safe or not and I generally try and avoid being hit in the face by a frisbie

I accept that you would be very unlucky to be killed by a drone - and perhaps the charge of endangering life is a bit OTT. but there have been people injured by them - such as these: link link link

As for drones having 'built in safety that automatically returns them to the origin point' - tell that to this guy who was prosecuted in the UK in April and had to pay out over £4K in fines and costs after the 'fail safe' on his drone failed.

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All of that said - they look great fun and I would love to have a go with one

Carl