Kenya Aerial Film 2014

[5ammy]

Hi everyone,

This is my latest aerial film shot in Kenya in July.

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/111352521" width="500" height="213" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>

Shot with a DJI Phantom, Tarot T2D and GoPro Hero 3.

There's lots of landscapes, some caves, some giraffe and my favourite section is when I flew at at local school near the end of the video.

I'd like to know what you all think of it.

Thanks,

Sammy

 

[5ammy]

Video now works!

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Hey mate,

Great video!

To embed a video on the forum don't use the embed code from Vimeo, copy the URL and use the video icon (little film strip on the right) then press OK. I've done it for you this time.

See you next time!

 

[5ammy]

Thanks very much

For anyone who's interested here is a video with just the Kenyan school children http://youtu.be/MgUA6O66ULY

 

[dazzab]

I'd like to know what you all think of it.

Thank you very much for sharing that. I really enjoyed it. Great quality and it has a lovely feel to it. The shots with the children are a perfect example of my 'creativity vs safety' theme. It's actually quite dangerous to fly over people like that yet those are the best most creative shots and full of emotion. They are just lovely. But if I did the same here in Australia I could be fined and might even be risking my upcoming operators certificate.

 

[5ammy]

Firstly thank you very much for you comments. They are very much appreciated.

In regard to the 'safety vs creativity'
Although I was close, I wasn't as close as some of the shots may seem. It was shot on a GoPro but at different field of views (narrow and wide)
Even in the uk that wouldn't be illegal as they are all 'under my control'

I assure you it was all very safe, take off and landing area was segregated from the children. As far as I know there is no UAV legislation in Kenya but the flight would have cohered all the major safety points from my ops manual.

Thanks again for your feedback

 

[Av8Chuck]

Isn't Kenya great? I spent about a month sooting a documentary I always heard people say how much they enjoyed Africa but its so difficult to explain to anyone who hasn't been there what its like.

I hope you don't mind that I post some of what I shot there as well. Its funny how when people from all walks of life go there we end up shooting the same things...


This is more of the kids:

Aerial:

 

[dazzab]

In regard to the 'safety vs creativity'
Although I was close, I wasn't as close as some of the shots may seem. It was shot on a GoPro but at different field of views (narrow and wide)
Even in the uk that wouldn't be illegal as they are all 'under my control'

I'm sure you took the utmost care and made sure things were safe as possible. The issue with flying over people is that that the copters themselves are just not reliable. There's not much you can do about that given we are working with hobby grade components. Just have a read through the threads here and you'll see lots of professionals with lots of experience using the best equipment that have copters go nuts and even fall from the sky. It doesn't matter how many safety measures you put in place, it's simply never safe to fly over people with a multirotor. Of course, we mitigate as much as possible but what level of safety is acceptable? I'm not sure and I'm asking, not preaching.

I would like to be proved wrong as vision like you created is just so beautiful and exactly why I got started in this area of photography. It wasn't that long ago that people were calling for operators to sign a safety pledge that included never flying over people. Given the amount of flying I see directly over people I guess that's gone by the wayside. As I said, hopefully I'm way off on this and it's not the issue I think it is. But first time something bad does happen when flying directly over people, not only will it be terrible but it's going to reflect on us all.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Is it really 'never' in Australia? Seems a little harsh. What if you want to fly over an actor, or yourself? There's an acceptable risk to UAV operations and I'm pretty sure an accident won't come from the commercial side of things, it will be a hobbyist who makes a mistake. My aircraft have been surprisingly reliable, way more reliable than my car!

 

[dazzab]

Is it really 'never' in Australia? Seems a little harsh. What if you want to fly over an actor, or yourself?

If you can make a safety case that CASA approves then you can get an exemption for just about anything. But you have to prove it's safe. However, even a hobbyist that posts a Youtube video showing flying closer than 30 meters to people or structures is at risk of receiving a letter from CASA politely explaining the rules. After that you are looking at serious fines in the order of $8,000 per incident. I have one of those letters if anyone doubts me.

Things are getting very serious here. Remember, Australia is being used as an example worldwide of what not to do thanks to an operator in Geralton who let his wife operate a UAV at a public event that crashed and injured a person participating in a marathon.

 

[5ammy]

What exactly needs to be included in the safety case to the CASA? Is it smilear to protocols already required for a CAA UK approved ops manual. I can see where your coming from with hobbiests flying dangerously over people with no care for saftey. But if your ops manual has been approved by the CAA I can't see there being a high risk due to all the pre flight checks, regular maintenance checks, rules about people under your control and all the emergency procedures that have to be laid out etc...
If it's mechanical failures that your worried about then surely flying within 100m (if not more) of anyone is dangerous. If one motor or ESC goes on a quad and it was at 400ft it could fly quite some way before hitting the ground.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

In the UK you can't fly over or within 50m of members of the public (30m during takeoff and landing). If you've briefed the people you're flying over then you can fly as close as you think is safe with no minimum legal limit.

You will develop a good working knowledge of your aircraft over time and instinctively know when things aren't right. Aircraft fly over people all the time and cars zip by on the roads constantly, many built by people just like you and me. MR's are becoming much more reliable these days. I had one failure on my S800 over the course of one and a half years and it didn't result in a crash. Pretty good if you ask me.

Plan for the worst, it rarely happens but keep it in the back of your mind. It's not like we're flying over people 90% of the time, more like 5%. Add those odds up and you have more chance of winning the lottery.

 

[dazzab]

What exactly needs to be included in the safety case to the CASA?

I'm not sure. But in a couple of months I'll be interviewed and tested by CASA for my Operator's Cert and I will ask about this. I do know one operator who has an exemption to fly within 5 meters but I understand there are some very strict conditions. I doubt he would tell me what they are but he is a commercial airline pilot so he's quite professional to say the least. I don't know if that includes actually flying _over_ people but I doubt it. It's probably a case of flying near public vs flying over people you are working with like actors or people who are involved in the production as Benjamin said is the case in the UK.

If it's mechanical failures that your worried about then surely flying within 100m (if not more) of anyone is dangerous. If one motor or ESC goes on a quad and it was at 400ft it could fly quite some way before hitting the ground.

I said the same exact thing when this topic came up long ago on these threads. Indeed, I'm an advocate that hobbyists should be restricted to approved air fields and be insured just as most RC flyers have been doing for many years. At least then you are in a semi controlled area where you agree to fly to guidelines and you are covered by insurance.

 

[dazzab]

Plan for the worst, it rarely happens but keep it in the back of your mind. It's not like we're flying over people 90% of the time, more like 5%. Add those odds up and you have more chance of winning the lottery.

Yes, I agree. I'm not worried about the pros. But what about all the Phantom crazy masses out there? Given we really don't see that many incidents it's probably not the issue I think it is. But whenever I see these high shots over groups of kids I get nervous. I can honestly say that I just wouldn't be comfortable ever doing that. As you say, the risk is probably very low. But how much risk are you willing to take? Imagine being in the shoes of that guy in Geralton Australia who is now looking at criminal and civil charges for injuring a marathon runner. I just can't imagine what he or the person that was injured is going through right now. Was it worth the low risk?

 

[5ammy]

That's were the risk matrix included in (I think everyone's) operations manual comes in.

The result of a phantom falling from the sky would not be loss of life or limb...or even serious injury.
Possibly serious injury if it was at a high height but then there would be time to clear the area -granted only a few seconds but everyone is under your control so they know what to do at your command.

 

[5ammy]

Are you saying approved CAA operators should need to apply on a per time bases for flying over any personnel? Or are you talking solely for hobbiests who don't have to be approved pilots.

 

[dazzab]

Are you saying approved CAA operators should need to apply on a per time bases for flying over any personnel? Or are you talking solely for hobbiests who don't have to be approved pilots.

I'm not sure what comment you are referring to. But I'm not saying approved CAA operators should need approval for each flight over people if they have a proven safety case that's been approved. I am saying that hobbyists shouldn't be flying MRs wherever they want in public places.

 

[dazzab]

I'd like to apologize for hijacking the thread in to a discussion on safety. As much as I find the discussion useful I didn't mean to take away from the beautiful videos of Kenya being shared by the OP. I really did enjoy it and think it's a wonderful video. As I said before, it's creative videos like this that got me here in the first place. Keep up the great work, and keep sharing. Thanks.

 

[Av8Chuck]

Why is it that every time someone shows a video where there's some flight over people or at an altitude that might be higher than 400' we get into the same incessant debate over regulations?

I've sometimes been known to drive above the speed limit, ride my motorcycle without a helmet, commercial airliners fly directly over people all the time, so what? Common sense goes a long way, if that was a Phantom with a GoPro flying over those kids then it not likely that anyone would be seriously injured if there was a mishap. Of coarse if one of those kids suffered a serious laceration than getting it treated in a timely manner might be difficult.

Sammy, did you injure anyone? Did you think what the consequences might have been if you had? I'd probably suggest that you don't do that again, but I enjoyed your video...

These pilots should be flogged...

 

[Matt Nelson]

Great shots - way to long for a reel, but looks good.