TV Series "24"
 

I'm not a big fan of the TV show 24, but something on monday's episode caugh my eye.

Jack Bawer is trying to stop a terrorist that is going to send some nukes around the US on UAVs. It just so happens that these UAVs are very similar in shape to the Global Hawk UAV that the AirForce Uses, but they are a scaled down version.

Does anybody have any information about these scaled down versions of the Global Hawk? Were they just a TV prop? Or were they a real RC aircraft?

http://www.uscg.mil/news/deepwater/HAE-UAV.jpg

Thanks for your help.

Rafael

RE: TV Series "24"
 

If you go to the show's website, www.fox.com/24 , there is a tab called "Research", where you can look up tech info on stuff from each episode. There is nothing there yet for the UAV's, but I suspect that in a couple of weeks, when these things actually get used, they will put up some information. Yes, I'm a geek.

I was joking with my kids about how Jack Bauer never eats, sleeps, or goes to the bathroom. I told them that if I were the star of this show, there woud be entire episodes where I am sitting on the can, playing Tetris on my cell phone. [:@]

RE: TV Series "24"
 

I love TV, and there is nothing like a great action TV series or movie to keep me glued there. But there is something about this show that does not attract me, and those little realistic details (bathroom breaks, food intake, and the like) is what keeps me away from this show.

Thanks for the link.

Anybody else care to share anymore information?

Rafael

RE: TV Series "24"
 

I started watching the show this season and I do like it but it always seem the characters do something dumb to keep the plot going

RE: TV Series "24"
 

I haven't really followed the show that closely, but it seems that I missed the part where they use these airplanes. I cought an episode the other day on my DVR and they showed the plane taking off and Jack Bawer crash landed it on something that looked like a dock.

I checked the Fox website mentioned above and I have not seen anything about these planes. Anybody care to add to this post?

Rafael

RE: TV Series "24"
 

I can't tell you anything about the program but I can tell you that scaled down versions of UAVs are used in the real world.

About 18 years ago I used to fly with a guy who was contracted by the Navy to teach R/C skills to prospective pilots of the Pioneer. Talk about a job, he flew R/C for a living!!!

They started the students out with a commercial R/C trainer. Then progressed to a 1/2 scale Pioneer using standard, commercial R/C equipment in order to get a feel for the aircraft before moving on the the genuine article. He even brought one out to the flying field one day but it was much too windy for him to fly it.

Anyway, scale models of UAVs are used by the military and could have been used in the production of the show. But they also could have been built by a skilled modeler.

Dave

RE: TV Series "24"
 

Thanks for the reply. I know all of that, given the fact that i'm a veteran. We used to "play" with the "shoot down" versions of the MIGs. You can have a lot of fun by shooting a 50 caliber machinegun at an RC aircraft. A friend of mine even has one that he converted to commercial RC. Another friend had the actual controller that was used. A big metal box with some switches that had some far resemblance to the radios we use.

I was hoping that this being the forum that it is, somebody would have some info as to the manufacturer of the aircraft, which was obviously RC controlled. If it was a one off prototype, maybe by bringing it up here, the modeler can get enough exposure to convert it from a prototype into a product.

Rafael