U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people

Re:U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people by codedokode on Monday January 14, 2019 @09:02PM (#18908313)

First thing they should do is to cover propellers so that they don't hurt anyone. Most of the drones I've seen have no protection. The manufacturers and owners don't care about the safety at all.

Also, what if the drone flies into someone's window or a car? How do you identify the owner?

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Re:U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people by jstplanecurious on Monday January 14, 2019 @09:56PM (#18908538)

>First thing they should do is to cover propellers so that they don't hurt anyone.

Does anyone know why this isn't standard?

I Googled this question: "why don't quadcopters have safety cages" https://www.google.com/search?q=why+don't+quadcopters+have+s... ...

... and even saw cages that go around the whole quadcopter (not just the propellers as I was expecting). If those were a bit squishy they could seriously reduce any chance of concussion/property damage if landing on someone or something!

The YouTube video below is pretty amazing, it shows someone demonstrating such a cage.

"Spherical Cage Incased Quadcopter" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B3X6EvZ2XM

I've submitted it as a separate submission. (It's only 2 minutes.) He says it flies great, and he even seems to purposefully drop it several times from as high as the height of a building.

Also for anyone who hasn't been around drones much, in the middle of the video you can hear the annoying whirring noise people mention throughout this thread.

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Re:U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people by sschueller on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @05:03AM (#18910031)

They reduce lift and make the drone less efficient.

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Re:U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people by asynchronous13 on Monday January 14, 2019 @10:04PM (#18908559)

> Does anyone know why this isn't standard?

Because cages weigh more. Minimizing weight is critical for anything that flies. If it weighs more, then it takes more energy to make it fly. If it weighs more, then that's less payload that it can carry.

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Re:U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people by leetcrew on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @08:32AM (#18910982)

it's actually worse than that. in addition to the weight penalty, prop guards decrease the performance of the rotors and make the aircraft a bit less stable.

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