Warning to Flyers: Be Careful Out There

Warning to Flyers: Be Careful Out There

Today I was disturbed by reading the story of an awful fatality of an RC hobbyist in Brooklyn and I was reminded how a day of fun can end abruptly with a tragic accident. No one wants that to happen.

Remote-Controlled Model Helicopter Fatally Strikes Its Operator

A 19-year-old man was killed when a model helicopter that he was piloting in Calvert Vaux Park struck him in the head, the authorities said.

RC flight gives some of the pleasures of flying without the accompanying dangers, I had supposed. Yet there are real dangers, as there are doing most things. Promotions selling drones or quadcopters often promise that anyone can fly. Not everyone takes safety as seriously as we should. This story is a reminder of the possible danger to ourselves, to others and to property from operating unsafely or unexpectedly losing control. Be careful, makers.

Today, I also came across this 1917 poster on a wall in our office and I made the connection.

warning-consider

Carl Malamud of public.resource.org, who shares the Make office in Sebastopol, had found this WWI-era poster archived at the Smithsonian.

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DALE DOUGHERTY is the leading advocate of the Maker Movement. He founded Make: Magazine 2005, which first used the term “makers” to describe people who enjoyed “hands-on” work and play. He started Maker Faire in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006, and this event has spread to nearly 200 locations in 40 countries, with over 1.5M attendees annually. He is President of Make:Community, which produces Make: and Maker Faire.

In 2011 Dougherty was honored at the White House as a “Champion of Change” through an initiative that honors Americans who are “doing extraordinary things in their communities to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.” At the 2014 White House Maker Faire he was introduced by President Obama as an American innovator making significant contributions to the fields of education and business. He believes that the Maker Movement has the potential to transform the educational experience of students and introduce them to the practice of innovation through play and tinkering.

Dougherty is the author of “Free to Make: How the Maker Movement Is Changing our Jobs, Schools and Minds” with Adriane Conrad. He is co-author of "Maker City: A Practical Guide for Reinventing American Cities" with Peter Hirshberg and Marcia Kadanoff.

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