http://everythinggeraldton.com.au/2014/04/06/unfortunate-event-triathlete-sustains-head-injuries-drone/

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/triathlete-sustains-head-injuries-from-a-drone?xg_source=activity

The reason operator stated amuses me, also this shows the inherent dangers of flying models over crowd or anything valuable as such.

the fact that most people dont know is anything that is electronics will fail certainly. Even ibm computers, nomatter how safe/redundant they are. A simple moisture laden spec of dust can play the trick, no serious hacking is required. Let us all pray for her to get well soon, and be more careful while flying.ashok

Gentlemen,
PLEASE DON'T SENSATIONALISE.
One of the news items says "The machines are revolting. Be prepared."
The more we publicise such nonsense, the more the public misunderstanding.
Let us not be a party to such sensationalism.

We need to look at this no worse than 1000s of car accidents or other accidents happening all around us.

That is what these are, accidents.  

The only time it becomes an issue is when people fly in crowded places thinking "they know best and they feel these machines (like any other machine) will never have failures".

Well we all need to be very careful of what we do.... after all erroes and mistakes do happen and these coupled with equiptment malfunction or failure can hurt someone.  As responsible individuals we have to stay clear of crowds and ensure we do everything safely.  Anyone of us can do mistakes..... I remember an incident when we were flying our control line model some 25 yrs ago... the flier lost control and the model came inside.... in an attempt to gain control he moved out of his position and the model snooped down on three of us friends stading there.  Me and one other dived and hit the ground but the other one took a hit on his back.... he had to be rushed to the hospital and was given 10 odd stitches... the propeller had cut through his back.

Channel hopping... hmmm.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-07/triathlete-injured-as-drone-filming-race-drops-to-ground/5371658

what i intend to covey was, never trust electronics, atleast dont put others life in line. Ashok.p

Channel hopping??? I don't think this is related to radios using channel hopping to reduce interference. Im not saying hacking is impossible, but its unlikely. Thankfully it appears that the lady was not hit directly by the multirotor but was shocked on seeing it crash in close proximity and took a fall.

As an operator putting the blame on hacker would be an easier way out because any other reason such as equipment failure(props,esc,radio link,motors,FC,gps),interference from solar activity or any other wireless radio transmitters nearby, in the end will lead to the operator being held responsible. Hacking seems to be a option where culpability shifts away from the operator.

Anyhow fact is that current Auto pilot flight controllers & high end aerial photography multirotors don't possess enough safety and redundancy measures to make them safe to fly over crowds. I mean these are 5kg+ things falling off from 40ft+ . Don't know the exact math , but Im sure its gonna hurt!