Flying has become child’s play
Toy drones are making a big appearance at the 68th toy fair in Nuremberg.
They have three to eight rotors, reach heights of up to 100 metres, are able to carry out daring manoeuvres and can be easily controlled using a smartphone or tablet app. The smallest weight only as much as half a chocolate bar, some models are capable of flying at night and, thanks to their built-in cameras, most deliver breath-taking aerial images and videos.
Multicopters, often also referred to as drones, have been becoming increasingly popular not only with adults, but also with children and teenagers. This is because their rotors make them much more stable than model aircraft, the prices of basic models are also relatively low at between 50 and 350 euros and they can be controlled without previous experience. The only prerequisite in Germany is that the pilot has third-party insurance and – if the drone is a professional model and weights over five kilos – an official permit.
Attractive toy technology
“The development of the technology over the last five or six years has made copter flying child’s play,” says Daniel Haas of the German branch of Yuneec International Co. Ltd, which entered the drone market in 2014. The most successful drone manufacturer at present is the French company Parrot, followed by the Chinese manufacturer DJI. However, German suppliers are catching up, as Sascha Riethbaum of Jamara in Aichstetten, Baden-Württemberg, knows very well: “The trends are definitely towards models that can be flown fast and furious, so-called racecopters, and towards FPV video goggles that enable models to be flown from a pilot’s perspective.”
According to Spielwarenmesse Nürnberg, technological toys like multicopters and drones will continue to gain popularity in future. The 68th toy fair in Nuremberg from 1 to 6 February 2017 is therefore dedicating an entire hall to this market segment with a 400-square-metre area on which products are allowed to fly, land and carry out daredevil manoeuvres.
New rules for drone pilots
Because drones have been increasingly frequently leading to dangerous situations in Germany, in January 2017 the Federal Cabinet decided in favour of new regulations. Stricter rules are planned, as well as a kind of drone flying licence. In addition, all drones weighing over 250 grams will have to be equipped with a pilot address label to make it possible to swiftly find the owner.
