REAL LIFE NEWS: WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU GET HIT BY A DRONE?
by Hazed
Getting hit in the head by a drone is painful. Well, who’da thunk it? Fortunately, it probably won’t kill you.
Researchers from Virginia Tech and State University have published a paper which examines what happens when drones of different weights fly into people, or are dropped on their heads.
The drones they tested were: DJI Phantom 3, DJI Inspire 1, and DJI S1000+. The weights of these beasts ranges from 1.2kg (2.6lb) to 11kg (24.3lb). The tests were carried out using a test dummy, and the drones were flown into it at speeds ranging from 16 metres per second (36 miles per hour) to 22 metres per second (49 miles per hour), then dropped onto it when unpowered (ie no rotating propellers) from a height of 5.5 metres (18 feet).
The conclusions of these tests were as you would expect: the consequences of being hit by a drone vary, with the heavier drones more likely to cause injury. Having a drone drop on your head is more likely to harm you than being hit by one flying horizontally.
While this all might seem fairly obvious, it is worthwhile to define acceptable standards of risk, given that drones are only going to become more common in the future. While it will be impossible to ensure nobody ever dies from a drone accident, it should be possible to formulate rules that make such an event rare.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/21/drone_human_impacts/
