Thankfully no-one appears to have been killed or too seriously hurt in the crash above, and FOR THE MOMENT lifts like this are probably beyond most multi-rotor drones (though with at least 4 times the blades, and less energy expended in counteracting rotational forces, multirotor aircraft - whether manned or not - have a massive lifting capacity advantage over real helis) but will that remain the case? Will drones take over manned flights for a lot of things?
This size lift was obviously still way beyond the capability of most drones I've ever heard of, but there are so many places where a drone really is probably a safer option than a full size heli. There's a reason I guess that the military are favouring them so much for so many things.
Even just the fact that drones can do things a real heli often can't because of their size - one of the first videos I ever saw filmed from a drone, flew through the reeds in a river, up to the massive span bridge across the valley the river was in, then tucked in behind a vehicle on the bridge and followed it through the tunnel in the mountain side. All in one smooth unbroken shot.
A real heli would have struggled to run a camera through the reeds, let alone then go up and fly through the tunnel behind a car.
Will drones eventually take over where manned helicopters now go? Or will manned helicopters go to multi-rotor styles, for their greater lifting capacity and easier flight and manoeuvrability?
Is the world of rotor based flight going to majorly re-develop from here and follow the multi-rotor path, or are people always going to want the traditional style and shape of a helicopter?
It's an interesting world ahead one way or another.