I was doing a favor, giving some aerial for a 72 hour National Film competition. At the beginning of the set safety brief I gave everyone my spiel, about staying away from the aircraft unless they were participating in the specific shot, i.e the talent or stunt personnel. It was my second shot of the day, had one more to do. I anounced that the I was landing and to clear the area. I was bringing it in and the director came in between me and the aircraft while I had it coming through 10 to 5 feet altitude. She went about 4 feet from the aircraft laterally. I aborted landing to get her out of the way. I landed explained that I was terminating flight and was no longer going to continue with them. I told her I know a guy with a quad and a gopro who will do her shot. Apparently people don't grasp the seriousness of this, even when I explain to them that this can mangle them beyond the skill of the best Hollywood plastic surgeon. These are some things that can happen on set, especially with people who are new to this industry. I thought I would share, and implore everyone stick to their guns and not give anyone an inch when a major safety breech is made on set. Even with disclaimers, the reputation of possibly crashing into someone even if it is their fault is not worth it. I would rather them have the reputation for discarding safety versus the other way around. Shaun
Good call on not continueing the shot, they may be upset but they now know you have EVERYONES safety in mind and come back to you to get the shots they need. Im going to have Large road cones and caution tape whenever i can to make a "safe" landing/takeoff area with signs to keep out. Some situations may not allow this but whenever i can i will impliment this.
I've taken to traveling with 4 large light stands and caution tape, which I use to delineate my takeoff and landing site. Obviously that's no guarantee of safety, nor is it practical in all circumstances. But like you, Shaun, most of us are trying to project a safe, professional impression on people. And for good reason: these things in the wrong hands and/or the wrong situation can be very troublesome. And we don't need any more bad publicity like we got from the knuckleheads at that bull run, or the many Phantom cowboys out there.
Its funny you should mention that, normally we have those light stands like @Steve actually with tape in place. In fact we had them out the day prior with PA's when doing a car shot coming down a road into a driveway. On this particular shot we excluded them because my takeoff and landing zone was going to be in the shot. we had to transition 180 to get the house, then pan over to the actors dumping a body in a make shift grave. That's what gets my goat, I told them the tape is not out but the rules remain the same. While the copter has engines on, they will remain behind a wall next to the cam op. The said director agreed and even announced to the crews to stay away from us while doing, then ends up doing it herself. There were all kinds of safety issues not having anything to do with us the night prior, such as having a 30 Amp light on a 20 foot combo 10 feet from a swimming pool. They were not too happy, but I don't care. The producer who was not doing his job effectively, was profusely apologetic and tried to get us to stay. I explained I don't work that way, said you get one warning and that was during the safety brief. I told him we would give them whatever footage we have and even warp stabilize if necessary.
Yup, exactly, There was a guy filming us flying it around on his 60D. That would have been a "lovely" Youtube video of my Cinestar chopping her face apart not to mention our own GH2 footage which would have one best blood splatter for the 48 Hour horror project, oh wait was last week . I would have expected nothing less than a lawsuit from her even though it would have been her fault as well as an FAA inquiry putting my ratings in jeopardy and having a formal mishap on record. I overheard her badmouth us as we left, I am sure it will get around. I would rather that and explain to someone the reason why we left because of their lack of safety, versus "hey you were the guys who cut that person up with your copter."
I always have my cam op to clear the landing and make sure everybody stay back when I come to land. We have tape and cones as well but my cam op is like a bulldog when he starts and can clear a football field in 5 seconds G
Maybe it's time for someone to put together a "safety reel", that has a few gory pictures of people's hands and faces that have gotten bit over the years.
Not for the squeamish. Click at your own risk and see the result of not following proper safety measures when operating large flying blades. http://puget3d.over-blog.com/article-accidents-corporels-images-videos-choquantes-85307431.html
This is how I typically configure my flying area. 4 light stands (I have a lot of those), sandbags and caution tape. This was today at a local high school. If you can't land in an area that size under complete control, you shouldn't be flying a Cinestar.
Yikes ... some of those are quite hectic! I usually show them the scar on my hand after our little incident (forum thread link) and that usually gets them backing off to safety ...
I nearly lost my fingertip and got 3 stitches across 3 other fingers when I was adjusting the needle valve on my nitro plane. Doctors said if I had hit the pad of my finger instead of the fingernail I would've lost my finger tip. So I'm in the same boat that I can show the scars and get people to back off.
Since 1997 I've been working in film training exotic animals to come onto sets and 'act.' It doesn't seem to matter how clear you make the dangers and safety precautions people either always ignore or forget. As soon as the magic words "CUT" are yelled crew are programmed to switch into high gear to get ready for the next shot or set-up and completely forget what is happening 10 feet behind them. Yesterday while having a bear on set 'eating' the corpse of a dummy, crew started waving 4x4 flags and 3k lights around because they were losing light - Bears don't take kindly to big things being waved around by whispering people in the dark. All my animal experience has help me prepare for flying copters on set. Expect people to do exactly what they aren't supposed to do at all times and be prepared for it!!
Andy: I've trained hundreds of animals (small, big, dangerous and docile) the one absolute truth I've discovered are humans are untrainable. You can't fix stupid.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein