Two people were injured, one seriously, when they were apparently hit by a large RC Model taking part in the Fire In The Sky event at Watsonville Municipal Airport in California on Saturday evening. A woman identifying herself as the sister of one of the victims said her sister is “lucky to be alive” and her boyfriend was also hurt as they watched fireworks from the deck of their home. The impact from the aircraft punched a hole in the deck from which they were watching and the remains of the plane ended up underneath. Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said the model aircraft took off from the airport and crashed a few seconds later into the house, which is adjacent to the airport. The exact size and type of model wasn’t immediately clear.
The injured woman’s sister said her sister and sister’s boyfriend have “painful injuries” but did not elaborate. “My poor sister and her boyfriend were hurt when a remote control plane crashed into a deck they were watching fireworks from at a friends house last night. She’s lucky to be alive. They both have painful injuries. I’m so so angry at whoever was piloting that thing. Please send good juju their way,” she said in a Facebook post.
I saw it happen. The RC plane was about a 5 foot jet that took off, turned downwind, flew across the setting sun, did a hesitation roll until it was inverted, then flew into the ground. It hit near where the 2023 midair collision happened but this one was just outside the fence but we didn’t see exactly where until the fire trucks and cops started showing up over there. The rest of the aerial display was canceled other than the fireworks.
And now we find that “Joe Blow” is a real person … 😁
… and that no remote-controlled (or autonomous) devices have any business in the same airspace as aircraft with humans aboard. Their “pilots” have no skin in the game. But this is Aviation; people will have to die before the FAA does anything to prevent it.
Once again, the FAA’s authority is sharply limited to certificate action and civil penalties. For FAA to do much about this, either congress would have to pass a law authorizing them to take such action or some other agency would have to act.
Not a lawyer, but I suspect this case will be resolved in civil, or possibly with state criminal charges, but definitely there is no chance whatsoever of FAA taking any criminal court action. They simply cannot.
I fly Rc and NEVER fly anywhere near the sun , because it can dazzle you, and all you need is a seconds loss of attention to crash.
You can ask me how I know!!
I fly RC also and also try never to place my RC airplane directly between the sun and my eyes. But the times I have done so and have crashed I’ve always been flying at a sanctioned AMA flying field which, as most AMA sanctioned flying fields are, was well distanced from residential and highly populated areas.
Let’s all calm down. This RC jet was a part of the evening show. The RC jet crashed and thank God there was no serious injury. This was an accident and the show, including fireworks and RC airplanes was approved by the FAA to occur close to the airport. We have shows like this in other parts of the country within a few miles from the airport and they have to get FAA waivers.