littlecrankshaf

My Feedback: (58)

Oh, just for fun...a little old now but still cracks me up... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNPJMk2fgJU#t=298

Rob2160

Well, I'll tell you a "friendly" true story Bobby… I am a long time RC pilot and started when I was 14 in 1978. Friends, family and neighbours have always wondered why a grown man wants to play with little toy aeroplanes and helicopters.

18 months ago I start flying Multicopters just out of curiosity . They don't replace my fixed wings or helicopters and never will but they have added a new dimension and variety to the hobby for me.

Last year I was at a Christmas party with about 60 people in attendance, the usual family, friends and neighbours. After sunset I pulled out my two largest drones which are fitted with coloured lights and cameras and did several demonstration flights for the crowd.

Men, WOMEN and children were all fascinated by my "drones" in a very positive way that I have never experienced after flying any other RC model.

A very attractive neighbour came up to me after the first flight and said "You do realise this officially makes you the coolest guy at this party."

100% true story and my experience since flying drones is that women at a park will walk up and initiate a conversation far more readily than has ever occurred in 30+ years of flying RC planes or helicopters. I build my drones myself from Metal and Carbon Fibre and they look nothing like the plastic toys you can buy in Walmart.

My wife also thinks my drones are FAR cooler than any of my planes and helicopters and sometimes even flys them herself. So my own personal experience with women and drones appears to disagree with your comments above.

I respect that you think drones are silly and that is ok with me. I actually did too when they first appeared on the scene.

BobbyMcGee

Hi Rob,

The stuff I wrote about asking the R/C community to help ban drones because of the image of the dorky drone guys which could be confused with us cool R/C guys ( ), was intended for a laugh.

Good story about the woman hitting on you at the party.

================================================== ======================

[QUOTE=HoundDog;12071528]Those are some really SICK people shooting hogs from a helicopter.
Poor hogs.

joancmigneault

I'm sick & tired of all this talk about quadcopters being called "DRONES". If you call a quadcopter a drone you must call ALL helicopters & airplanes drones too. That makes all aircraft at Top Gun & Warbirds over Delaware & others drones too. ALL OF THEM. We must stop all this silly talk.

Jim Branaum

My Feedback: (3)

[QUOTE=BobbyMcGee;12071589]Hi Rob,


================================================== ======================

Have you ever seen the damage feral hogs do to a crop? I have and it is not pretty, in fact my brother-in-law lost and entire crop in one night to feral hogs. Before you go all whacko on us try to remember the farmer has to pay for seed, fertilizer, bug stuff, and the fuel it takes to use his tractor to prepare the ground and plant things.

That being said, I would be in favor of making firearms on quad copters illegal. That probably won't get me any love, but there are way too many idiots that already mix alcohol with aircraft, guns, and cars so I have a hard time understanding why we should allow them more than one way to kill people.

Rob2160

LOL.. all good, nobody was more surprised than me. I definitely agree with you that there are some people flying drones that shouldn't be allowed to.

Now tell me more about those hot beach babes….

init4fun

So , In tonight's news , they announced the first ever FAA allowed drone delivery was accomplished today . Of course , the news also mentioned the future plans of other companies with regards to drone deliveries , and I had to wonder ........

In this brave new future , where thousands of drones are zipping about the skies , all going about their pre programmed delivery missions , How long do ya think it's gonna take for criminals to realize that shooting these things down could be downright lucrative , in that the stolen goods basically fall right into their hands ? In today's world where crooks steal forklifts and drive off with entire ATMs , I wouldn't put it past the criminal element to see all these delivery drones as "easy pickins" and cause real problems by shooting a bunch of them down .

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

Now this combined with FPV would make a great PIGGY getter,

BobbyMcGee

I still don't like the idea of killing the hogs. They are only trying to survive by eating. Then, they try to survive by running away from someone shooting at them! Poor hogs. There is a better way to fix the farmer's problem, but some people just take the easy way out. What was even more sickening about the video was that the guys took pleasure in shooting the hogs as if it were a video game! Again, poor hogs.

I'm not expecting everyone to agree with me on this, because people have different views. But the hogs are just trying to survive ... They are not looking to do damage. Humans are the only species that are motivated by vengeance to do damage, and what we humans do is sometimes inhumane.

And I'm not a fan of drones with weapons either, except for military use. Otherwise, that would be illegal in every instance.

init4fun

You need to do a bit more research , before issuing such an oft repeated , simply not true , statement !

There are PLENTY of non human species that kill for reasons other than pure survival . Believe it or not , fish can be some of the worst at murderous behavior with no survival at stake . Ever owned a home aquarium ? I have seen fish attack and kill other fish "just because" . Ever seen the nature shows where monkeys will attack and kill every member of a neighboring monkey clan , with no threat to their own survival to be cited as a "reason" for the murderous behavior ?

Yes , we humans can and do behave badly on an all too regular basis , but before you go painting all animals as innocent "victims" in the circle of life , please do some reading , you'll be surprised to find this widely believed falsehood just simply is not based in actual fact .

Sport_Pilot

It is not true they we are the only species that are motivated by vengeance. I have seen this in my dogs and it is certainly true of most primates. If these were a wild species I would agree with you. But these are feral domesticated farm animals. Likely these guys are hired by a park or agricultural administration. Feral hogs are bad for both farms and wildlife.

NorfolkSouthern

Sure, you would think "poor hogs". Until one of them kills, and eats a kid. And it has happened before: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ter-China.html

Sick, you say? So, um, what do you think about the destruction of our crops food supplies by these feral beasts? What would you do if you lived in that area, and a hog attacked one of your pets? Or, for that matter, one of your kids?

VF84sluggo

My Feedback: (55)

This has already been discussed/debated/fussed about etc in this thread...

predman

My Feedback: (7)

The problem with these quad copters etc is they are very attractive to a regular consumer with no Rc experience. I went into sams club and they had a quad with a camera etc for $99. Buy it at the grocery store, take it home and fly with no knowledge of public safety or where it can and can't be flown. People are buying these without belonging to a levitate Rc club that teaches you the rules and regulations of a safe Rc world.

Jim Branaum

My Feedback: (3)

I suppose I should have said that extreme measures not involving firearms have not worked in trying to manage the feral hog population and several different ones have been tried. I invite you to spend a week in a tent in a seriously hog infested area with no weapons, and no hardened enclosures (that includes no vehicle) within 300 yards, and no hard food enclosures. Then you might be able to discuss feral hogs intelligently rather than from a pet store perspective.

At least we do agree about drones with weapons.

NorfolkSouthern

This, exactly, Jim. I have been around many domestic animals, mainly dogs and even some cats, that could act very unpredictably. Feral hogs are very intelligent, and are not necessarily our friends. They are a natural predator to humans, in addition to a food source competitor. I cannot blame the hunters on the helicopter one bit. It's self defense, nothing more and nothing less.

As for drones. Here is another incident the FAA is investigating: http://7online.com/news/faa-investig...cticut/861224/

Such a system can just as easily be devised with fixed, and rotor-wing model airplanes. To make such a device is unconscionable. Yet, this is starting to happen. So, what happens when model airplanes are subject to the same controls as firearms? I'm begging to wonder if that's now a possibility.

essyou35

My Feedback: (11)

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/us/cal...ire/index.html

8178

My Feedback: (17)

Delete

FLAPHappy

My Feedback: (209)

Yep. It's only going to get worse. These idiots are going to fly these things regardless of rules, regulations, and flat don't give a Sh++t about anything but getting a video to post on Urine tube.

FLAPHappy

My Feedback: (209)

Now watch this one. This will create more problems, I can see gears turning in heads right now.

http://www.cnet.com/news/oh-look-a-d...tag=YHF65cbda0

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

http://gizmodo.com/la-freeway-looks-...-fi-1718764017

More troubling news about reckless and irresponsible operators. Assuming what the police are saying is true, this is really amazing that someone would do this, and for what, cool footage? To some degree I wish the choppers and planes still dropped the retardant and water and took out the drones, but obviously that was a safety issue.

At this point, people shooting this type of footage have to know that they can't really post this stuff up on the web as LE is going to be looking for that. A real lack of common sense. That post fire scene did look like something out of a movie.

NorfolkSouthern

It's on NBC now: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/cal...reeway-n394516

Chris Nicastro

My Feedback: (3)

So I guess the 5 drones that caused the aerial fire fighting crews to "dump their payloads and land" due to their interference in the airspace over the fire in California is just over reacting.
I guess these little aircraft pose no credible threat to full scale aircraft because jets have titanium fan blades and helicopters have stainless and titanium composite rotors. They will just chop these little drones into peices, this is just all over reacting Im sure.

NO, WRONG, IGNORANT, IRRESPONSIBLE

At a closing speed of just 100 mph a 5lb object weighs 500lbs at impact. At 200mph its a 1000lbs and so on and so on. Add to that the speed of the drone and the closing speed can exceed 300mph. No commercial aircraft windshield is designed for these impact loads and they are flying well within these speeds when dropping water on fires. Military aircraft can take some damage from debris and gun fire but they are not using A-10's as tankers here are they. Yes a drone can go thru a windshield and damage rotors and turbines.

A very good friend of mine is a Life Flight pilot, former fire fighting pilot, former logging pilot, former Blackhawk Army pilot. I have it on good authority what can happen if one of these careless drone pilots put one into a helicopter.

There are aircrews lives at stake as well as people and property at risk on the ground. Pull your heads out of your hole and stop flying these drones near full scale aircraft, just for starters!

I have 34 years, YEARS, INVESTED in radio control model airplanes, not to mention tens of thousands of dollars invested as well. Im not going to have you Drone Idiots provoke the FAA or whatever government agency BAN my hobby.

If you see drone pilots flying over fires, over airports, over areas that are private, CALL the Police!!! Take some responsibility and stop these people or our hobby is lost.

init4fun

Sounds like you've been talking with Sport Pilot , Eh ?

Anyway , joking aside , you mentioned something worth expanding on , and that is the local authorities' ability to be able to deal with this . As we all here know , flying in any way that causes interference with full scale is illegal , the laws for interfering with a flight pre date even 9/11 . So here we have Mr. (or Ms.) flying camera operator , flying where they aren't supposed to , and the local police are called . Short of shooting the offending drone out of the sky , what are they going to be able to do ? It's not as if the idiot doing the flying is standing right there , waiting to be told to knock off the stupidity and land , no , they're likely far enough away as to be plenty concealed and not easily located . I really do think , what it's going to come down to , is that only commercial/military operations will be allowed to strap real time cameras to unmanned aircraft , and any model aircraft operations will be untouched except for the no camera mandate . I really do think this is coming . I highly doubt the entire RC hobby will be banned everywhere , but I'd bet a few $$$ that the days of " civilian camera flying free for all " are rapidly drawing to a close . It's too bad a few selfish jerks are gonna ruin camera flying for the majority who don't fly like jackasses , but that's the way things like this always seem to go . Soon it'll be " want to be involved in flying cameras ? Either join the Army or go to work for Amazon " ...... Count on it ....

Jim Branaum

My Feedback: (3)

Well said and very accurate. The only thing is, as init4fun says, calling the police will probably be unproductive. What is actually worse is the 'cry wolf' syndrome will (is already?) taking effect with them. Most LEOs seem to be willing to wait and see if Dummy Drone Operator does something that costs the vehicle and get him when he tries to recover it. Does not help rider scale guys. This is the reason I have occasionally had something to say in this thread. Way too many idiots among us have no comprehension of what striking ANY object as speeds around 100 or better will do to things and a few seem to think commercial aviation is invincible. Eight pounds of meat is less rigid and actually delivers less damage than 4 pounds of metal and plastic at the same speed. But we wont bore the stupid with factual details.