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They'll probably be careful and not fly them around airports and not as high as jetliners. Flying (commercially) is still far safer then driving or probably even then swimming in the ocean or shaving or eating bone in fish - maybe. So until it happens....
They'll probably be careful and not fly them around airports and not as high as jetliners. Flying (commercially) is still far safer then driving or probably even then swimming in the ocean or shaving or eating bone in fish - maybe. So until it happens....
Wow, you apparently have a lot more faith in LEOs than I do, or you've never talked with one of these so called pilots. Ask one of them what class A airspace is or IFR, I expect you would get a blank stare.
I should clarify that I'm not afraid so much of the military based drones flown by trained pilots, at least not the safety factor(big brother factor, yes). I worried more about the smaller hover type drones that do not require a skilled pilot. This are still big enough to cause damage to a plane's control surfaces if hit directly.
Last edited by Velvet Jones; 02-20-2013 at 06:27 PM..
It isn't a matter of faith, it's just a matter of not worryin about every possible outcome every possible day. Im assuming the things show up on radar? They probably have more control over them then a flock of geese, right? Wayne of waynes world said it best, "What if monkeys fly out of my butt?"
It isn't a matter of faith, it's just a matter of not worryin about every possible outcome every possible day. Im assuming the things show up on radar? They probably have more control over them then a flock of geese, right? Wayne of waynes world said it best, "What if monkeys fly out of my butt?"
I think the danger varies greatly depending on the airport or area. The two main airports I fly out of regularly are fairly rural, so I would worry about it much. But airports such as LAX, La Guardia, or Midway, which are in highly urban areas, are the ones I would worry most about. In the future I can see local narcs or DEA using their own drowns in city neighborhoods which are in the direct approach path of airliners. I would hope that common sense would tell them that this is a bad idea, but that is something they're often lacking. The newer drones are likely too small to be picked up by ATC or even the collision warning systems on commercial aircraft.
The Drones in use by, and being developed for law enforcement purposes are LUMPs. Light Un-Manned Observation Platforms. They are the equivalent to military Tier 1 or smaller. Nowhere near the size of the Tier 2 and above Drones like the Predator, Reaper, or Sentinel.
Most law enforcement Drones operate below 500' and have a range of about 1 mile. They are limited in their airborne time to only about 1/2 hour continuous. Although there are larger ones with increased altitude, distance and duration, they are not what the law enforcement means when they say drones. The typical LE drone is just a large sophisticated version of a radio control aircraft similar to the T-Rex RC helicopter platform.
I don't want drones, spy cameras, or any other trappings of a police state. There are worse things than crimes so I'll do all I can to oppose drones both where I live and everywere else in the country.
In the olden days, in Illinois, state police would use aircraft above to watch vehicles traveling on interstate highways and time or use radar to clock speeds, and further down the road, would be several state troopers standing on the shoulders performing a road block {of sorts}
In Illinois, there are very large white marks on the pavement at every mile interval, the people in the aircraft would use a stop watch {if not radar equipped} and hit the stopwatch when a vehicle crossed over one white mark, and then stop the watch on the next mark, timing the seconds it would take and then calculate the speed. If you were speeding, the information was radioed to police on the ground. I was once nailed for speeding this way and I was in a quandary of how I was caught, because usually, the police would sit beside the road and get someone with radar. I was told that they were using aerial surveillance when I asked how they caught me.
So see, aerial surveillance is absolutely nothing new, they {police} have been doing this for many years. There's probably more of it now and you hear more of it being used because of population growth and growth of enforcement techniques and technology.
I wasn't hoping my prediction would come true, but this is scary. Some idiot is going to kill hundreds of people and the government will likely cover it up.
I wasn't hoping my prediction would come true, but this is scary. Some idiot is going to kill hundreds of people and the government will likely cover it up.
They'll probably be careful and not fly them around airports and not as high as jetliners. Flying (commercially) is still far safer then driving or probably even then swimming in the ocean or shaving or eating bone in fish - maybe. So until it happens....
Well perhaps not a police drone but it just happened. Didn't take very long did it? Within 200ft of a jetliner and close to a commercial airport.
Lets now see how long it takes to find out who owned the drone. I wonder what the story will be. I'd consider the police as any law enforcement agency.
So now that it has happened, maybe you'd like to add another comment?
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