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Droning On
MagnetarJones writes "Another washingtonpost.com article reports that Federal regulators have begun considering rules that would allow drones, the pilotless planes being used in the war in Afghanistan, to fly in U.S. airspace. Supporters envision the use of drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, for such tasks as moving cargo, pinpointing traffic problems, patrolling the border, searching for fugitives or fighting forest fires..."
Who needs cameras on light posts anyway? They're too easy to avoid.....
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They could also be used for crowd control, or spying on dissidents, or attacking remote outposts of constitutionalist militias...
I just saw an article about these drones on another site yesterday. What many of the stories forget to
mention is that each drone plane costs more than FOUR MILLION DOLLARS, so they are not the inexpensive
throw-away solution that it appears.
I think it will be many many years before FedEX and other freight haulers seriously consider using
something like an unmanned drone for delivery.
It's much cheaper to hire a pilot and use a plane, or hire a truck, and it will still be much cheaper for a long time to come.
I see these things flying around Indian Springs all the time when I'm driving out the the Test Site, and if they're talking about the Predator model, I really don't see how they would be much use hauling hauling cargo. They're meant to be a fast & light recon plane.
Ah, yes. I have seen these as well going back years. In fact, drones have been used by the military since the '50's I think, for target testing by converting old fighters (F-4's currently) to remote control. (I also seem to remember my grandfather telling me about a B-17 that was converted to remote control for the testing of some of the first air to air missiles. Additionally, NASA has also outfitted larger planes including a 707 for crash testing. There is nothing that limits the size of a drone and they do not have to be necessarily fast and light to be a recon plane. Look up the Global Hawk and Darkstar to see what I mean.
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I wonder if drones crash more because the penalty for operator error is not FLAMING DEATH.
Think about it: the ground-based drone operator decides that, due to the staggeringly boring nature of his job, he needs to take a few minutes now and then to smoke a bowl or surf for pr0n.
Real pilots have a lot more invested in the ship's safe return.
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"Thinking" pilots are the cause of most accidents. In the event of a controller fuckup (ie: near collision), the systems on commercial jets tell the pilots what to do. They even talk between themselves (ie: you go up, we'll go down). That's much safer than a pilot taking a 50/50 shot. Hell, read about 3 Mile Island. It happened because of human intervention. If the system was left to it's own accord, nothing bad would've happened at all. What about hijackings? You can't exactly hold a knife to a computer's throat, and no matter how many drunk/unruly passengers you have on a plane, they're not gonna hure the computer.
In the history of major accidents, human intervention is usually the *cause* of most disasters. I, for one, would feel safer in or under a pilotless plane.
This is already happening. At least I presume the Global Hawk flew through U.S. airspace to get from Edwards to Alaska. ;-)
Actually, Global Hawk flights over the continental US are now routine as I understand it. And these are not small drones, witness:
Global Hawk:
Wing span: 116 ft
Length: 44 ft
Height: 15 ft
Performance Goals
Range: 12,500 nmi
Approx. Endurance: 35 hrs
Endurance @1200nm: 24 hrs
Altitude: 65,000 ft
True Airspeed: 335 kts
Gross T/O wt: 26,750 lbs
Payload wt: 2,000 lbs
Payloads: EO/IR and SAR
I have no problem with this personally, but I can see how some might get a little nervous. ;-)
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Actually, you're not far off...
My brother is an intel officer in the USAF, and he told me about how all the pilots are b*tchin about how they are going to be reduced to remote-controlled airplane pilots just like their 8-year-old son. There's an on-going investigation into some pilots who may have purposefully crashed their drones to "demonstrate" how bad they are and how we still need planes...
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between a war, and a War. Having spent several years in law enforcement, at the street level, I can honestly say the war on drugs is one of the more ignorant things this country has attempted, right up there with prohibition. If we legalized the drugs, regulated the growers, the so-called war on drugs would end next week, with the foriegn suppliers going broke, the US government generating huge funds, the prison population which is nearly 1/3 people involved in stupid possesion crimes, would return to a manageable level. The only real show stopper I can see is an on the spot test for drivers, similar to the DUI field sobriety tests, because NO ONE should operate a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs. The whole concept of the government trying to legislate morality is hypocritical in the extreme. Oh well that's my so-called .02, Happy New Year all and TGIF :)
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?