Rejoice in the mishaps on YouTube or get it removed?

[SkippyUK]

There’s pages and pages of videos on YouTube showing RC model aircraft incidents (or crashes to be more specific) but do you think responsible flyers should be posting these videos which may in the future be used against us by some busy body who wants to get the local flying club shut down.

I was a member of HDMFC in the early noughties and was somewhat dismayed to see plane crashes part 1 to 10 celebrating mishaps and crashes especially as one of the HDMFC's flying patches was on common land near houses with regular complaints from householders about the flying activities.

A lot of these videos (not just the HDMFC ones) just demonstrate that RC Models can be completely out of control and can hit anyone or anything and it’s only a matter of time I believe before a no-win-no-fee litigator uses these videos in court and sets a president against out hobby.

With this in mind;-

1. Should we as a responsible hobby community be reporting these videos to YouTube for removal (I don’t know if this would cause them to be removed)
   
   or
   
2. Should we be asking the contributors to remove them
   
   or
   
3. Is it all OK and just an example of freedom of speech and we should stop worrying and interfering?

I open it up for comment;-

Skippy

[Frank Skilbeck]

Or you can see many U Tube videos of allsorts of accidents/mishaps from loads of different activities, it's not going to be easy to stop, especially since a great deal of the uploads come from overseas.

Whats a no-win-no-fee lawyer going to get unless a model has hit somebody, they say no fee, but what they mean is they will take a very large proportion of any damages you are awarded, so they will usually only take on cases where they stand a good chance of winning substansial damages.

BTW its precedent........ I don't think Obama, Hollande etc have anything personal against us.

[bouncebounce crunch]

If they are genuine crashes fair enough but if they are the crashes that are through negligence a warning that responsible modellers do not fly this way would probably be best.

I don't know how the moderators work on youtube, but i certainly have seen some disturbing videos that i believe should be taken down but are still operating.

who will take the time without pay to go through all and sort them out?

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Well there isn't much we can do about it - and some can be "educational", I have used one or two in the past as links to articles because they demonstrate what a classical tip stall looks like for example. But when it literally is a "celebration" ie "look how funny this is" - then no I don't think its very clever or responsible. But as I say - there isn't much we can do about it.

BEB

[Paul Marsh]

What people load up is upto them. Once an authority starts to censor media unnessarily, then dictatorship takes over, like in 1984.

Of course videos that offend or are unsuitable for viewing aren't allowed, but other than that it is a free commununity...or is it?

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Another way to look at this is that many of these videos show irresponsible or incompetent people crashing models with the result that much wood or foam ends up splintered. Doesn't this serve to reinforce the general public's view of big kids with toys doing nobody any particular harm?

Few of them would appreciate the potential hazards of of a Zenoah 62 powered large scale model out of control but the majority are relatively lightweight. The reactions shown when a "serious" model is damaged usually reflect that damage wasn't the expected outcome of the flight - therefore something fairly rare and likely to happen on a model flying field away from the general public.

The exception to me is the stupid and irresponsible flying of FPV models in built up areas where apart from direct damage, there must be danger from drivers of vehicles being distracted.

Edited By Martin Harris on 14/02/2013 01:03:05

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Paul Marsh on 13/02/2013 22:07:55:

What people load up is upto them. Once an authority starts to censor media unnessarily, then dictatorship takes over, like in 1984.

Of course videos that offend or are unsuitable for viewing aren't allowed, but other than that it is a free commununity...or is it?

 

 

...and once the media self regulates...?

It's not about censorship anyway; it's being mind full of the unintended effects thoughtless & reckless exhibitions can invoke beyond the intended audience.

Exhibitions of crashes for amusement are thoughtless and inconsiderate, even if the individuals involved are unconcerned the RC world as whole gets tarnished.

I can see a point for genuine investigative purposes but apart from that I think that as the pleasure is in the flying, not the crashing - then it is a rhetorical question as to what material should be produced for pleasure purposes.

 

 

Edited By Ian Jones on 14/02/2013 01:23:38

[bouncebounce crunch]

All the above points are valid, no doubt about that.

true modellers don't want to crash I sure dont want to see my 100 pound or dollar notes floating by in pieces.

I saw a model of a sopwith camel being run over by a steam roller the owner thinking all was funny, I didn't and posted that it would have been better to give away to an interested modeller that might not be able to afford such a model to see if he could return her to the air. well i guess you could tell what happened next. still suffering from the wounds.

[Devon Flyer]

Frank, BTW, it's substantial. LOL

Edited By Devon Flyer on 14/02/2013 06:57:04

[Craig Carr]

Posted by SkippyUK on 13/02/2013 21:11:16:

There’s pages and pages of videos on YouTube showing RC model aircraft incidents (or crashes to be more specific) but do you think responsible flyers should be posting these videos which may in the future be used against us by some busy body who wants to get the local flying club shut down

A few year back the BMFA issued an advisory via the BMFA magazine that club webmasters do not post videos of this type on their club website for that very reason skippy.

I personally think the same principle should apply for YouTube but sadly, given youtube is just about open to everyone and theres literally hundreds (if not thousands) of these types of videos.....it's too late now I think.

Craig

 

Edited By Craig Carr on 14/02/2013 07:06:55

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Picking up on BBC's point and widening slightly. I have only relatively recently started looking at comments on videos - I quite quickly stopped doing so as well! I'm an engineer, no prude and certianly no "shrinking violet". But wow - such anger, abuse and brutal hostility! It makes you realise that some of our fellow citizens, and no small number, have a very dark and disturbed side which is rather scary!

You wonder what they make of the many videos that seem to revolve around the "fun of detruction" and not just the aeromodelling ones.

BEB

[Peter Miller]

The trouble is that Joe Public likes this sort of thing. TV has been running "You've Been Framed" for more years than I care to remember which features a few really nasty model accidents. Then we have "Destroyed in Seconds" with the destruction of just about everything,

Then we have the TV programs that set out to humiliate the participants. Fine, the participant knows what they are letting themselves in for. But it does say something about the viewers who enjoy the spectacle. They would probably be happy to go to the Colosseum and watch the slaughter there.

Personally I don't enjoy these programs. but the masses obviously do

[GrahamC]

Some thoughts...

1] I'm going to confess to occasional indulgences in RC schadenfreude on Youtube.

2] Funny how given the vast number of RC crashes on Youtube, some quite spectacular, that I don't remember ever seeing one where somebody got hurt. They may be there, but if so they are very very rare.

3] Point 3 would seem to suggest that RC is actually a fairly safe activity. Even when things do go wrong its very unusual for there to be any damage to anything other than the airframe in question.

4] Youtube exposes the real idiots who fly in unsuitable places, and therefore reinforces the value of recognised flying sites. [I cringe at the famous crashing a trainer next to a main road video]

So....

5] I'll probably carry on watching. [Am i bad person?]

Oh and....

6] Posting videos of members of an identifiable club acting like complete idiots is probably a very bad idea. But then maybe clubs where that happens a lot should be shut down.  

Edited By GrahamC on 14/02/2013 08:57:21

Edited By GrahamC on 14/02/2013 08:57:40

[Frank Skilbeck]

Graham has got a good point, you could show by all the videos on U Tube that statistically the chance of anybody getting hurt by a model crashing is very low so these videos could be used in favour of the modellers, after all it's going to be very hard to prove that models hardly ever crash........................

[Worms]

I recall a computing course that I went on in the early 90s. The subject turned to the internet and the idea that it was developed as a free-to-all medium that, upon censorship would have failed in its primary objective...to be free-for-all.

One could argue that, if lawyers, rule makers or "Angry from Rotherham" wanted to look for ammunition against any hobby/pastime they could easily access this forum or any other to see what was 'going on' and, formulate a set of rules based on individual posts, or, by selecting those that suited their 'purpose'...it works both ways!

[GrahamC]

Indeed; by the logic used the "Incident Reports" Section of this forum should be removed immediately. I find that Google is very good at finding threads here.

I can just imagine the 'spot it and ban it' brigade.... "'Clevis pin failure' and 'Wing Bolt failure' - this is lethal! Ban it now before anyone else has any fun!"

[I should add that this is very tongue in cheek!]

Edited By GrahamC on 14/02/2013 10:22:48