[EricH]

Originally Posted by seg9585

EricH, my undergrad school (RPI) owned several radio controlled blimps and several members of our embedded control class (plus local robotics team) attended Championships (and other events) to fly those blimps. They had several sensors and could easily lift a camera. These weren't considered dangerous despite their size. Although slow, a torn blimp (due to hitting a cable, for instance) could have easily hurt bystanders as well.

In regards to EMI in the 2.4 Ghz range, most R/C transmitters use spread-spectrum techniques that minimize interference with itself and with other devices running locally. Even then, 900 Mhz crystals are still used on my local flying fields with plenty of reliability.

The reference was to heavier-than-air birds (planes, quadcopters, helicopters). Lighter-than-air birds tend to be much slower and have enclosed propellers; these combined with being lighter makes an R/C blimp a bit safer than your average R/C airplane.

@runneals: I won't go so far as to say that no professional R/C pilot would accept such an offer. However, there are far too many things that can go wrong--flying over people, flying in an area with obstacles, carrying a payload (though that part depends on the plane). However, I would hazard a guess that a pilot who did such a thing would end up on AMA's "We don't want this guy around" list, like the person who flew an R/C airplane under multiple NYC bridges using only a POV camera for location and then posted the video online. There ARE safety codes, folks, and flying over people is highly discouraged! I would say that very few pro-type pilots would even consider it after you mentioned the people on the floor and the cables, or once they saw them.