Oh, Great! A Winged Drone

This thing sucks! Every time I try to turn, the earth tilts. WTF! Why won't it hover?! POS. :D
 
bbridges51 said:
so i'm hoping they're too expensive for the masses.
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Do NOT underestimate the collective stupidity of the masses and their ability to spend the money they don't have.
Just look at every retard driving around while texting on their brand new $600 gaiPhone with a $100/mo plan. Can they afford it? Nope. Did it stop them? Nope! :)
 
BigBadLou said:
Do NOT underestimate the collective stupidity of the masses and their ability to spend the money they don't have.
Just look at every retard driving around while texting on their brand new $600 gaiPhone with a $100/mo plan. Can they afford it? Nope. Did it stop them? Nope! :)
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Huh? :confused:
 
We're any of you scared of RC airplanes before the media/FAA told you that you should be scared of them.

As a professional pilot and someone who flew large RCs as a kid, I'm not worried....at all.
 
It will never sell because you can't peek through your neighbors windows with it. :rofl:
 
James331 said:
We're any of you scared of RC airplanes before the media/FAA told you that you should be scared of them.

As a professional pilot and someone who flew large RCs as a kid, I'm not worried....at all.
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Drones are not RC planes. It requires absolutely zero skill to operate a drone. You never flew your RC planes over people's back yards with a 3 axis gimballed GoPro either, did you?
 
James331 said:
We're any of you scared of RC airplanes before the media/FAA told you that you should be scared of them.

As a professional pilot and someone who flew large RCs as a kid, I'm not worried....at all.
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First, there's no apostrophe in the word were.

Second I'm still not afraid of RC airplanes, because they require skill to fly and those who take the time to fly them generally learn a thing or 2 before sending them aloft. RC planes have not been causing major havoc. Quadcopters that basically fly themselves have.
 
StinkBug said:
First, there's no apostrophe in the word were.

Second I'm still not afraid of RC airplanes, because they require skill to fly and those who take the time to fly them generally learn a thing or 2 before sending them aloft. RC planes have not been causing major havoc. Quadcopters that basically fly themselves have.
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What Dallas said ^^^ :nono:
 
StinkBug said:
First, there's no apostrophe in the word were.

Second I'm still not afraid of RC airplanes, because they require skill to fly and those who take the time to fly them generally learn a thing or 2 before sending them aloft. RC planes have not been causing major havoc. Quadcopters that basically fly themselves have.
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I had to register my son's quadcopter with the FAA, and it has rules you have to follow. So, I guarantee we're safe now. :lol:
 
All this flying out of sight FPV stuff started with fixed wing RC/Droneitoid machines. Just a beginner RC plane with rookie pilot software. You can get the same thing that looks like a cub but yellow ain't evil. There are some cool videos of folks flying miles, away nap of earth type stuff(and way lower then you GA heroes ever fly, nothing to cry about)with fixed wing FPV stuff.
 
Huh? Winged drones have been around for 40 years. They are sometimes called "RC Airplanes". What's new here?
 
James331 said:
We're any of you scared of RC airplanes before the media/FAA told you that you should be scared of them.

As a professional pilot and someone who flew large RCs as a kid, I'm not worried....at all.
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bullwinkle said:
Huh? Winged drones have been around for 40 years. They are sometimes called "RC Airplanes". What's new here?
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Exactly. These have been around for years. I was doing some work with a company that builds stuff to go on drones, and they have one for testing purposes.

They're more energy efficient tha the quad copters or octocopters & can fly higher and longer than the copter types.
 
bullwinkle said:
Huh? Winged drones have been around for 40 years. They are sometimes called "RC Airplanes". What's new here?
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I'm not going to debate the word being used, but there are pretty significant differences from a technology perspective.

40 years ago most planes were nitro instead of electric.

40 years ago most planes required a builder willing to spend a few hours to a few weeks building a plane.

40 years ago zero planes had GPS.

40 years ago zero planes had gyro stabalization.

40 years ago zero planes had FPV.

40 years ago zero planes had auto pilots.

All of those advancements that have taken place in the past 40 years, mostly in the last 5-10, make a huge difference in terms of the cost of entry and accessibility in RC flying. You no longer have to be passionate and interested, you just have to have $500, a willingness to type your credit card into Amazon.com and you've got a plane that you can fly... That's game changing in terms of the people what will be flying them.
 
Yup and really puts a hurting on the old RC guys egos.:lol: Wait until the Moller skycar gets built with all the easy fly drone tech.:lol: Butthurt pilots be crying all night long.:rofl:
172andyou said:
All of those advancements that have taken place in the past 40 years, mostly in the last 5-10, make a huge difference in terms of the cost of entry and accessibility in RC flying. You no longer have to be passionate and interested, you just have to have $500, a willingness to type your credit card into Amazon.com and you've got a plane that you can fly... That's game changing in terms of the people what will be flying them.
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The biggest problem with the new tech is it makes it easy and desirable to fly where there is no line of sight to observe the "drone". Without auto stabilization and cameras there really wasn't any way nor any point to flying out of sight. Now it's both easy and interesting.

But the drone pilots have no skin in the game, literally. We, as pilots of manned craft do have skin in the game. That's what worries me. I don't care that they don't have to work as hard as I did to build or learn how to fly. I do care that they don't have to know or care whether they get in front of a manned aircraft. If there's a collision, they lost $100-$2000 (or more) dollars. Ouch-ish. I stand to get killed.

It's kind of like the difference between a ATC and a pilot. If the pilot screws up, the pilot dies. If ATC screws up, the pilot dies. Asymmetric risk.

John
 
I'm just a hobbyist, not a professional drone maker. I have had cameras in my RC planes for at least 17 years. Some of my planes can "loiter" for over an hour and fly over 100 mph. I built my first RC plane with a (home built) GPS auto pilot 5 years ago. You have been able to buy similar aircraft off the self at most online RC stores for at least 3 years.
I just don't understand how people can be so ate up and twitchy about this stuff. This is all very old news.
 
Shepherd said:
I'm just a hobbyist, not a professional drone maker. I have had cameras in my RC planes for at least 17 years. Some of my planes can "loiter" for over an hour and fly over 100 mph. I built my first RC plane with a (home built) GPS auto pilot 5 years ago. You have been able to buy similar aircraft off the self at most online RC stores for at least 3 years.
I just don't understand how people can be so ate up and twitchy about this stuff. This is all very old news.
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Over 100mph for over an hour? :hairraise: Gasoline, glow or electric?
 
I don't get how you cant get it.

Yes, the technology has been there for a while now, but until recently it hasn't been an issue. Why? because the only people using the technology were responsible hobbyists like yourself, who weren't flying in areas with other manned traffic. The tech was there, but you had to know how to put it all together and make it work, which was a natural idiot filter. It simply wasn't an issue.

Now that every joe blow that lives in a departure or arrival corridor is buying ready to fly, and easy to fly drones they ARE causing problems. They ARE flying them in places where they are a hazard to safety. And they are doing it in very VERY large numbers. How is that so hard for you to understand?
 
How many drones are there? How many birds? It ain't GA's sky and if you don't share it they will take it away and give it to the hobby drone punters.
 
172andyou said:
I'm not going to debate the word being used, but there are pretty significant differences from a technology perspective.

40 years ago most planes were nitro instead of electric.

40 years ago most planes required a builder willing to spend a few hours to a few weeks building a plane.

40 years ago zero planes had GPS.

40 years ago zero planes had gyro stabalization.

40 years ago zero planes had FPV.

40 years ago zero planes had auto pilots.

All of those advancements that have taken place in the past 40 years, mostly in the last 5-10, make a huge difference in terms of the cost of entry and accessibility in RC flying. You no longer have to be passionate and interested, you just have to have $500, a willingness to type your credit card into Amazon.com and you've got a plane that you can fly... That's game changing in terms of the people what will be flying them.
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So...your view is that they are totally different because they are mass produced, accessible, use a different power source, and are easier to fly? Are they not still just small airplanes? Are they somehow more or less a hazard to aviation because you can buy one with a credit card?

:dunno:
 
There are many more birds than there will ever be drones. They are autonomous, ignore all airspace restrictions, and some are very large and fly at very high altitudes (geese have been spotted in the flight levels).

Why no hand wringing? Just because we are used to them? Or is it because birds have "skin in the game"? :D
 
bullwinkle said:
There are many more birds than there will ever be drones. They are autonomous, ignore all airspace restrictions, and some are very large and fly at very high altitudes (geese have been spotted in the flight levels).

Why no hand wringing? Just because we are used to them? Or is it because birds have "skin in the game"? :D
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I think all the birds should be required to register, and also fly with ADSB-out capabilities.:rofl:
 
bullwinkle said:
There are many more birds than there will ever be drones. They are autonomous, ignore all airspace restrictions, and some are very large and fly at very high altitudes (geese have been spotted in the flight levels).

Why no hand wringing? Just because we are used to them? Or is it because birds have "skin in the game"? :D
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Birds mostly try and avoid. Birds do have skin in the game. Most birds are relatively small and don't cause much damage. Some birds are a threat as attested by multiple bird strikes. Seems like they put an airliner in a river once...

Some drones are tiny & soft. No big deal. Some drones are big, heavy and hard. And we _should_ have more control over the drones than the birds.

John
 
Birds are as natural as wind and rain. Calling yourself a pilot because you fly a quadcopter is like telling people you're a computer programmer because you have a Facebook page. Operating said quadcopter in an area that presents hazards to others is irresponsible. That's the issue here. There is a lot of sky out there. Do quads need to be flown in known approach corridors or inside controlled airspace?
 
jsstevens said:
Birds mostly try and avoid.

John
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Very true. Have experienced it myself. Just recently with an eagle at 12 o'clock same altitude opposite direction. They dive you climb.
 
bullwinkle said:
So...your view is that they are totally different because they are mass produced, accessible, use a different power source, and are easier to fly? Are they not still just small airplanes? Are they somehow more or less a hazard to aviation because you can buy one with a credit card?
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Nope. Not because you can buy one with a credit card, because they are accessible to people that previously wouldn't have had the energy to get a plane flying.

It's like a lot of college degrees these days. Does one mean that the graduate has everything they need to succeed in my business? No. But it does mean that they have a sticktoitiveness and discipline necessary to be trainable. RC flying no longer requires that and that's why dumber and less disciplined pilots are flying them recently.

Though, I suppose if you look at the FPV and GPS parts of it they are more of a hazard because line of sight is no longer necessary. So maybe you're on to something with that part of it. 10 years ago if you lost sight of your model, odds were pretty decent you would never see it again. So you kept it close. Now it can be a mile or more away and you're not looking at it, you're flying it with goggles that have a very narrow field of view. Oh, and it's *really* fun to fly that way. That's a huge difference.
 
I disagree that drone purchasers are dumber then old school rc guys. Which is smarter buying an easy to fly unbox and go machine or glueing balsa wood and tissue paper together for a month to have a twenty second flight before another month of rebuilding? :rofl:
 
jsstevens said:
Birds mostly try and avoid. Birds do have skin in the game. Most birds are relatively small and don't cause much damage. Some birds are a threat as attested by multiple bird strikes. Seems like they put an airliner in a river once...

Some drones are tiny & soft. No big deal. Some drones are big, heavy and hard. And we _should_ have more control over the drones than the birds.

John
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Well, THAT and the fact that some drones are operated by idiots while birds have larger brains than some drone owners.
 
How are we not all dead already? You'd think the pieces of falling sky would have gotten us.
 
If all you anti-droners are not staunch anti-gunners you have some serious cognitive dissonance going on. You guys should have a Millions of Anti-drone Man march, show the world you're serious about this threat to GA airplanes.:lol:
 
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