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Drone sightings and Human Paranoia

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Drone sightings and Human Paranoia

Old 01-25-2019, 12:26 PM
  #21  
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Wow, I had never seen that video from Vegas. That is pretty dang scary.

Edit: Talking about an earlier post where someone linked to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzXmxjGbeIk
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Old 01-25-2019, 02:58 PM
  #22  
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Originally Posted by rickair7777 View Post

How do you account for RC airplane hobbyists? I don't know.
First, RC airplane and helicopter pilots are controlling the plane bylooking at it rather than a monitor downlinked from an onboard camera. At a distance of 400 feet, it starts to get hard to tell the heading or attitude of "average" sized planes, so keeping the craft close is pretty important.

There is a long history of keeping models away from airports because, back in the '60s and on, the better radios operated between 72 and 75 mhz. With Marker Beacons transmitting on 75 mhz and the wider bands the RCs were using, it was quite possible to have a meaconing event.

Since a decent sized field is required to keep an RC plane out of the trees, most folks fly outside of town and usually at an RC club. All clubs I ever heard of required membership in the Academy of Model Aeronautics. Some even required a written and/or flight check before becoming a full member.
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Old 01-25-2019, 03:16 PM
  #23  
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I totally agree that it needs some sort of regulation for sure. And the ones that are causing an issue, like dampening firefighting efforts, taking the mini racing drones and flying right next to an aircraft on final, and if there are truly drones popping up near airports, the ones responsible need to be prosecuted. I've been a long time RC airplane and helicopter hobbyist for close to 30 years and flying the Multrotor (drones) about 3 years now. I got my 107 to be able to take advantage of the technology of drones and make a little money on the side to offset the cost of the RC Hobby Addiction. What has happened from the beginning of the invention of multirotor is that the word DRONE is now applied across the board to all of flying rc model by the general public. Thats why I cringe when I see the multirotor aircraft make headlines and I fear than an all out ban to all RC aircraft is coming down the line someday as a result.
Guys , I love my hobby, I intend of enjoying in for years to come ,I don't want to see it gone. I realize that there are many valid cases of truly seeing them, all I can ask is before playing that Drone card, Please Please make sure that you have without a doubt seen one.
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Old 01-28-2019, 05:58 PM
  #24  
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I saw a drone in the ATA of Bogota, just after takeoff. It was going very fast, and definitely a safety hazard. I assumed it was a military drone.
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Old 01-30-2019, 04:44 PM
  #25  
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I hear the point you're trying to make, but if we're talking about jumping to conclusions, you're making a pretty big leap yourself in assuming professional pilots have a desire to sabotage drone hobbyists due to "paranoia." I have literally never heard another pilot express anything close to such a desire. Frustrations sometimes, sure. But it's always situational and directed at a drone operator, not their existence.

Another point worth making is that professional pilots, particularly 121 pilots, are rightfully regarded as extremely reliable witnesses. We've passed countless hurdles, examinations, background screenings, and have years (if not decades) of experience. So yes, when we report a drone sighting it's taken without much cross-examination. We see all kinds of wild and crazy things out there. We can tell the difference between birthday balloons, drones, birds, you name it.
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Old 03-12-2019, 08:39 PM
  #26  
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2rCB-1AlGc
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Old 03-13-2019, 06:03 AM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by martin3977 View Post
hi guys,
i am an airplane enthusiast as well as a 107 licensed drone pilot. I fly responsibly and by the faa rules and use common sense.
I can empathize with your position and passion for RC/Drone aviation, but (and I promise I'm not trying to be a troll) I recommend keeping in mind that the term "Common Sense" is very subjective. What's common sense to you is not common sense to another. We see this in political arguments where a proposed law is just "common sense," yet the opposing side considers the opposing view to be common. If you try to step back and view this more analytically instead of from your common sense perspective, it'll probably become clearer (whether you agree or not in the end).

Originally Posted by martin3977 View Post
the latest rash of drones shutting down airports has me concerned and really questioning the validity of all the claims and if there isn’t some sort of hidden agenda.
There is no hidden agenda. RC is a fond past-time for quite a few pilots.

Originally Posted by Martin3977 View Post
and the fact that when a pilot sees something floating in the air ,now it’s automatically a drone, for instance the last sighting over Teterburo, seeing two drones at 3500ft 30 ft off the wing??
Unless a pilot's head was looking down at a checklist or elsewhere to where they didn't see it until the last second, 30ft is quite easy to identify whether it was a drone or bird. With 30ft, I can most likely tell you the type of bird or brand of drone.

Originally Posted by Martin3977 View Post
But yet it’s amazing that no proof ever comes to light, just hearsay.
What type of proof do you recommend pilots start supplying?

I'll caveat that I'm only a general aviation pilot, so a faster approach speed might make it more difficult to identify the specifics of the drone, but I doubt it would be so drastic that the pilots of airliners are flipping coins as to what the item was that they saw.

From my GA perspective, the outcome will be a lot different for a drone to impact a propeller and acrylic windshield of a GA aircraft traveling 80kts/92mph than someone might expect if they pictured the ramifications to be similar to that of hitting a car windshield (not saying you are). We owe it to be responsible to ourselves, our passengers, and people on the ground by managing risks that are within our control. Like others have mentioned, we'll probably see technological restrictions implemented at some point.

Personally I think the reputation of drones are more at risk from intrusive drone pilots; i.e., the drone pilot who hovered over my secluded backyard at one-story roof level while my wife was on our patio and kept coming back ~once per week for a couple of months.
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