jim quist Loc: Missouri

I saw a youtube video about a company that has developed a drone or laser or something that shoots down drones.

Heard that firefighters quit fighting a fire because someone flew a drone around it. They saw it as a dangerous situation for the firefighters.
One landed on the White House Lawn, that alone tied up a number of police etc who responded.

Drones are in a different category than cars, boats and children. They are airborne, and untethered, and they easily invade other peoples privacy. So I wish they would just quit making them all together. The last thing I want is to be at a high school softball game and get hit in the head by one that some kindergartner is flying because his parents think it cute that he is flying it.

Wenonah Loc: Winona, MN

My thoughts also. What evidence is there that it was a drone? No mention of any marks of any kind on the plane. No mention of them seeing an object.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

According to the BBC article, a DO328 Aircraft in August 2015 spotted a drone upon landing at Manchester Airport within 50ft. of aircraft. Pilot said he was at 2800 feet when it was sighted. How high can these drones fly?

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

You have internet access....how much do you want to spend? How about the sky is the limit,no pun intended. :roll: :roll:

banjonut Loc: Southern Michigan

That is a very broad and uninformed statement.

denoferth Loc: Portsmouth, NH

If all you pathetically excitable timid souls can stop wringing your hands for a moment and engage your brains you might well remember the last time a turf protecting pilot reported "a drone hit my plane". It took the FAA almost a month to admit there were bird guts and feathers sticking out of the dent and that little tidbit was only reported in the aviation media. Funny how that never made it into the popular headlines the way the original "drone hits plane" story did. Don’t take this the wrong way, You and I weren’t there and reporters and government spokesman generally aren’t the most knowledgeable people in the world but if the plane hit that piece of plastic there should be a dent somewhere, don’t you think? THINK is the operative word here. Oh, and have you noticed when an actual bird is involved it's always "plane hits bird" but when a so-called "drone" is involved the ever so much slower than even the bird "drone" always hits the plane? Sensationalized much for the simple minded? Of course this incident happened in England where the American FAA has no jurisdiction but the FAA spokesman was on the news nevertheless expounding on the dangers of running a piece of plastic with an EXPLOSIVE LITHEUM BATTERY through an engine. (For the record, they burn similarly to flair, they do not explode) The eerie timing of this incident reminded me of congressional hearings on gun control and how this news story so neatly dovetailed with the airline safety hearings in progress at the time. Those with axes to grind on either side of that issue might recall the amazing string of coincidences that occurred whenever a hearing was scheduled a well-publicized shooting would invariably (and conveniently take place). They became almost predictable and led some with covert backgrounds to infer they suggested the appearance of “false flag” operations. Crazy conspiracy theory, right, nothing like that going on right now?

matt thomas

denoferth...
Your resorting to insults only labels you as the pathetic one. Your "analysis" is at odds with professional airline pilots as well as the Airline Pilots Association which harbors great concern over many thousands of these small powered aircraft (yes, they are aircraft) being operated nearby commercial airports by unlicensed and untrained hobbyists.
May one further suggest that you (a) have no idea of what in hell you are talking about and (b) in continuing on with such asinine postings will only further embarrass yourself.

denoferth Loc: Portsmouth, NH

Thanks for your rant, anomalous matt. You are entitled to your opinion regardless how ill-informed it may be but reading your response reminds me of the old axiom about opinions and their similarity to certain body orifices. Have many axes to grind yourself?

banjonut Loc: Southern Michigan

Thank you. Well said.

Biker Loc: Allentown, PA

As usual, we human beings have taken a wonderful invention and ran it off the end of the earth again. How come we can ruin our electronic progress by our own stupidity? Cell phones, drones...........these are fantastic pieces of technology that can be put to use throughout the world and we will abuse and kill each other with our ignorance. We should all be ashamed of each other. How many teens have been killed in car crashes because of their lack of intelligence in the use of this wonderful communication. Sometimes I think we have gone a bit insane. Sorry, lost my head.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

:thumbup: :thumbup: As long as we can blame somebody else,we're good!

Biker Loc: Allentown, PA

Absolutely !

rocket111

I have Ben building rc and u controlled plains seance I was a little kid. You have to be responsible. When and where you fly them. I also have insurance just in case something goes wrong. Park flyers are a lot of fun. It brings young and old kids like myself togeather. Often times I have found most city's have parks just for people who like to fly and watch. It's sad that people are messing up a great hobby. I have seen some of these drones ready to fly with a camera on them for under $100.00 dollars. I wouldn't buy one but that's just me. I don't know if you can pass laws to stop this. I have heard of a jamming single that will keep rc grounded. Mayby that is needed around airports. Just a thought.

denoferth Loc: Portsmouth, NH

I don't know how many of you have been in the cockpit of a transport size aircraft about to touch down but the possibility of a positive identification of something appearing suddenly close by at around 125 mph is depressingly low. The claim that the aircraft actually impacted the object without leaving a dent, paint scrape or at least some little mark is also highly unlikely. Plastic bags can and do get scooped up into the air and would linger on the crews residual vision to be "remembered" as whatever they wanted them to be remembered as; UFO's, drones, or plastic bags. It’s no secret there are a few macho pilots who have a really hard time swallowing their pride and admitting anything. I'm reminded of the C-141 aircrew descending into Kadena through broken clouds over the South China Sea many years ago who declared an emergency when they were absolutely certain they spotted a descending bright orange parachute. They got the color right but the chute was only about 24 inches across, not 24 feet and was attached to one of our rawinsonds that was rapidly ascending while attached to a rubber balloon that must have been at least 200 feet around by then. Without a size reference, and when things are going by quickly, the human eye is easily fooled. That's not really a good reason to allow the human mind to be so easily fooled as well. Here are a few photos of typical quads that can easily reach pattern altitude. They weigh between 1.7 and 4.4 pounds. Anyone actually think an aluminum aircraft with a plastic radome in front could hit one of these things at around 125 MPH and not leave a mark?