drones in our skies

**Noisykids** · 03-06-2013, 10:59 PM

abc news just ran a story on drones. an alitalia pilot reported seeing a drone when he was on final approach. pilots are nervous about the things in case they smashed into the windshield or got sucked into an engine.

now really, have people not been flying r/c aircraft for a long time, and some of these things can get BIG. buff's, concorde's, c-130's, f-4's, dc-3's. i think a 1/4 scale pitts special going 125 mph might get an airline pilot's pucker factor all wound up.

why have we never seen stories about the threat from these? my guess is that the people who fly the r/c scale aircraft would never encroach on an airport glide path, and some other people wouldn't think twice about it.

kind of like the difference between the guys who belong to clubs and shoot competitively, and the guys who take the guns to the sandpit and shoot the place up.

**Bruno** · 03-07-2013, 10:14 AM

Myes. But you could also argue that a professional fighter pilot would not do such things as flying at illegally low altitude, harder than allowed, in between the mountains of a ski resort.

Cavalese cable car disaster (1998) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

People do all kinds of things they should know better than doing. Even government / military types. Everyone, from the president down does things that they are really not supposed to do. So if you're going to argue that the alitalia pilot must be wrong / lying, you'd really need a better argument than 'but a responsible drone operator would never do that'

**JimmyHAD** · 03-07-2013, 11:56 AM

I haven't gone to Fact Check dot org or Snopes ..... if we can even believe them anymore ? but the drone sighting, the news articles that the US gov has ordered small armored personal carriers, and finally that they (gov) have been buying hundreds of thousands of rounds of small arms ammunition ..... 223, hollow point pistol ammo .... if all of this is true makes one wonder what their long range plans might be ? BTW, also the assumption that the drone was no RC aircraft, more like the kind that kills terrorists.

**BobH** · 03-07-2013, 12:42 PM

Predator B drones are patrolling a large section of the Canada/US border now and the program will be expanded to cover the entire border in the future. There are some very high volume air traffic routes that bisect that border so drone sightings by airline crews will likely be more common than before.

US Drones Patrolling Canadian Border - More loss of sovereignty for Canadians - YouTube

**carpedm** · 03-07-2013, 01:08 PM

RC planes simply cannot fly high enough usually due to the radio range they have from the user on the ground. A drone is only limited by its ceiling capabilities (Lift it can produce vs Power at a specific altitude) Predators fly in about the same range as a pilot might see, but RC planes simply can't. A global hawk on the other hand flies at twice the height of most commercial jobs. Global hawks fly over the normal airspace to get from base to base in the US and move on...

Predators have remote pilots but they bounce signals off of satellites to control them. Global hawks are more Self-sustaining...

**Noisykids** · 03-07-2013, 09:21 PM

i should have been more specific. the airliner was at 1500 ft. the "drone" and that's what abc called it, was one of those things that are now available in hobby shops for the average consumer. not a military drone and the airliner was not at cruising altitude. my point is, without being accused of a sweeping generalization, is that a responsible club-affiliated r/c pilot would not do this, but i think a less than prudent purchaser of one of these tricky little "drones" might, not knowing any better, or just being a jerk. i use a green laser attached to my telescope to find stuff in the sky. i do not wave it carelessly at airplanes. same thing.

**BobH** · 03-07-2013, 09:54 PM

It is not the first time an R/C plane/drone has been operated near airport approaches. I can recall an incident in Britain several years back. No, it is not something a responsible individual would knowingly do but it most likely will be the responsible individuals involved in clubs that pay the price in stricter regulations. Always been that way.

Bob

**gooser** · 03-08-2013, 01:02 AM

it probably was a drone !!! this one tried to attack me ....lol ..

...

**JimmyHAD** · 03-08-2013, 01:05 AM

Originally Posted by Noisykids

i should have been more specific. the airliner was at 1500 ft. the "drone" and that's what abc called it, was one of those things that are now available in hobby shops for the average consumer. not a military drone and the airliner was not at cruising altitude. my point is, without being accused of a sweeping generalization, is that a responsible club-affiliated r/c pilot would not do this, but i think a less than prudent purchaser of one of these tricky little "drones" might, not knowing any better, or just being a jerk. i use a green laser attached to my telescope to find stuff in the sky. i do not wave it carelessly at airplanes. same thing.

Hey look, don't bother me with the facts !! Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they''re not really after me !!

**Bruno** · 03-08-2013, 05:12 AM

I still think they should paint them in interesting colors to make them look as if they are from a scifi movie.
They'd be much more interesting looking

Matte black with some blue LED lines, like KIT in knight rider, but in blue because blue LEDs are more 'ooh'

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