[joneil]

Hi everyone;
This one may sound a bit different to all of you, but here goes.

The April, 2015 issue of "American Funeral Director" had an article in the technology section on the use of quads / drones in funeral service.

I am 100% serious here. So to make a very long story short, being a funeral director here in Canada myself, I upgrade from my Blade 350QX3 and buy a couple of Q500 Typhoons, seeing how steady the video is. I also photocopy the article and staple the pages to the receipts of the quads in case any accountant or person from CRA wants to know how i justify a funeral home buying a muilti-rotor.

One of the proposed uses is videoing a committal service, be it at land or sea. (The drones that could carry an urn out to the lake and deliver it for committal were talked about, but so far as I know, nobody has done that - yet).

So how to test the concept without insulting people? In short, I got together with the manager of Woodland Cemetery, here in London, ON, and for the Victoria Steamboat Disaster remembrance, we tested it out.

I estimate a good hundred people came on Sat afternoon (May 23), and I took in 8 comments, seven positive, one negative. That was a lot, lot better than I anticipated. By way of example, the first funeral home in Canada (Toronto) to ever upgrade their horse drawn hearse to a motorized one over a hundred years ago faced a lot of criticism, so maybe people are more adoptive of new technology.

So here are two youtube links. The first is a 13 minute vid of the cemetery and some of the gathering itself, and the second a short, 3 minute vid of the site itself. Just kinda curious what the rest of you think
thanks in advance
joe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re41DW6XuMM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD_so3r5cv8

[Thunder Chicken]

A guy in NS dropped ashes from a 1/3 scale cub a while back,

Neat idea!!!

[Recursion]

Having it as an option for someone wouldn't be insulting if they choose it. Best way to 'test' the concept would be to offer the service for free.

I wouldn't use the word drone either. Just offer aerial photography and make sure they know that these things sound like an angry swarm of bees.

[AtariJeff]

Joe, I could hardly understand your post without all the spelling mistakes - lol. While I think some people wouldn't mind the quad being around, the loud buzzing of the props might be a nuisance.

[bcsaltchucker]

great idea! I like to see as many new practical uses for our RC drones as possible. They will become useful tools in our daily lives despite the fears of some.

but .. the others have noted the noise could really kill the sombre atmosphere of a funeral ceremony.

There are ways to have silent or near-silent RC aircraft however. Like a lighter than air balloon with low kv prop. Not much being done on lighter than air drones .. so maybe this is an opportunity for a smart engineer. Also multicopters like planes can be built to be much quieter by having larger span, larger props, low kV and much lighter weight. One fellow came out to our field with an old school KK1 quad which had very long flight times and very low noise, running on 2200mah 3S - impressed me. Heck I fly an epp scale bald eagle, also silent and also doesn't look like a man made machine

Also, perhaps better to not fly in sites like the video along the Thames there, over the sewage plant and people on the trail if you are considering a commercial career in aerial photography. That video could get your SFOC application nixed awfully easily.

$0.02

[Max]

I think its a great option for people who want their ashes spread in a unique manner or in locations that would normally be inaccessible.

If you offer the service, I am sure you will find the takers.