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Idea of civilians using drone aircraft may soon fly with FAA

jamesrage

jamesrage

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I am against law enforcement being allowed to use these things. Its a step towards cameras being everywhere and the government spying more on the people.

Idea of civilians using drone aircraft may soon fly with FAA - latimes.com
Drone aircraft, best known for their role in hunting and destroying terrorist hide-outs in Afghanistan, may soon be coming to the skies near you.

Police agencies want drones for air support to spot runaway criminals. Utility companies believe they can help monitor oil, gas and water pipelines. Farmers think drones could aid in spraying their crops with pesticides.

"It's going to happen," said Dan Elwell, vice president of civil aviation at the Aerospace Industries Assn. "Now it's about figuring out how to safely assimilate the technology into national airspace."
 
jamesrage said:
I am against law enforcement being allowed to use these things. Its a step towards cameras being everywhere and the government spying more on the people.

Idea of civilians using drone aircraft may soon fly with FAA - latimes.com
Drone aircraft, best known for their role in hunting and destroying terrorist hide-outs in Afghanistan, may soon be coming to the skies near you.

Police agencies want drones for air support to spot runaway criminals. Utility companies believe they can help monitor oil, gas and water pipelines. Farmers think drones could aid in spraying their crops with pesticides. "It's going to happen," said Dan Elwell, vice president of civil aviation at the Aerospace Industries Assn. "Now it's about figuring out how to safely assimilate the technology into national airspace."
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What's the difference between this and a police helicopter?
 
Expensive to build, but easier (and possibly cheaper) to employ. I don't like government overreaching much, but I don't see this one as a particularly big threat. I do have concerns about hacking and signal disruption, though.
 
Hatuey said:
What's the difference between this and a police helicopter?
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Drones are way cheaper to create and maintain. They're very easy to deploy and can stay aloft longer.
 
It is a logical step into the exploration and use of our airspace. Now the real question is, if I have a permit to hunt in my state, can I arm my drone to hunt deer?
 
Hatuey said:
What's the difference between this and a police helicopter?
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With the way technology improves these things can be made smaller, quieter and made cheaper. Which means they can be deployed everywhere to spy on people and step towards armed drones being used by the police.

A helicopter requires a pilot, its large, expensive and you can't really have a **** load of these things flying every where to spy on people while a drone can be.
 
jamesrage said:
With the way technology improves these things can be made smaller, quieter and made cheaper. Which means they can be deployed everywhere to spy on people and step towards armed drones being used by the police.
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Yes and it'll be a long time before they make it into your home or your earlobe. Chill son. Slippery slopes aren't your forte.

A helicopter requires a pilot, its large, expensive and you can't really have a **** load of these things flying every where to spy on people while a drone can be.
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General Atomics MQ-1 Predator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Price of a drone: 4-10 million + repairs, operator salaries, mechanics, etc.

www.robinsonheli.com/price_lists_eocs/r44_1_pricelist.pdf

Price of a helicopter: 300-600K + pilot, repairs, mechanics, etc.

It seems as if the cost of purchasing/operating just 1 drone is far higher than that of 1 police helicopter. So "having a ****load of these things" flying around would be unthinkable for any police department unless they plan on downsizing man power considerably.
 
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Jerry said:
Drones are way cheaper to create and maintain. They're very easy to deploy and can stay aloft longer.
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They're also much more stealthy, unlike a police helicopter. How do we know the ways in which these drones will be used?

Looks like more Big Brother to me. :shrug:
 
Hatuey said:
Yes and it'll be a long time before they make it into your home or your earlobe. Chill son. Slippery slopes aren't your forte.

General Atomics MQ-1 Predator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Price of a drone: 4-10 million + repairs, operator salaries, mechanics, etc.

www.robinsonheli.com/price_lists_eocs/r44_1_pricelist.pdf

Price of a helicopter: 300-600K + pilot, repairs, mechanics, etc.

It seems as if the cost of purchasing/operating just 1 drone is far higher than that of 1 police helicopter. So "having a ****load of these things" flying around would be unthinkable for any police department unless they plan on downsizing man power considerably.
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While I don't disagree with you, I think it's important to note that we have been making helicopters for almost a hundred years, but drones are pretty new. I think the cost will come more in-line or even beat helicopters before too long as mass production becomes more prevalent.
 
Keridan said:
While I don't disagree with you, I think it's important to note that we have been making helicopters for almost a hundred years, but drones are pretty new. I think the cost will come more in-line or even beat helicopters before too long as mass production becomes more prevalent.
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I'd also add that as soon as the private sector gets its hands on the technology, the price is sure to go down. Look what's happened to toilet seats.

Also, in order to spy etc., one could use what would amount to a "toy." We already have remote control model airplanes...this wouldn't be too much different.
 
MaggieD said:
I'd also add that as soon as the private sector gets its hands on the technology, the price is sure to go down. Look what's happened to toilet seats.

Also, in order to spy etc., one could use what would amount to a "toy." We already have remote control model airplanes...this wouldn't be too much different.
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Damn, I was just getting ready to mention that.

Depending on the range and duration of the flight of the drone directly impacts the cost. You can purchase a park flyer with a camera that you can use to look over the tree line for $200. You can get a bigger model that can do the same time with additional range and flight time for less than a thousand dollars. It is when you get into the higher altitudes and longer flight durations that you start incurring costs. I suspect that one of the largest costs for the military is have a communication system with a encrypted signal. Furthermore, that signal has to go from the area of operations for the UAV to the operator in the USA back to UAV.
 
For the big brother concerns, I will also mention that the government can already see and hear through solid walls. Being able to do it from the sky isn't a huge leap. Pun intended :p
 
So I can hook a cel phone w/ a camera on to my RC chopper and it'll be called a drone now?
 
MaggieD said:
It is a drone...with or without the camera.
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Sweet! Price Hike! No more selling RC aircraft, now they're DRONZ! Get yours before your neighbor gets his!

Cue A-Team theme.
 
Hatuey said:
Yes and it'll be a long time before they make it into your home or your earlobe. Chill son. Slippery slopes aren't your forte.



General Atomics MQ-1 Predator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Price of a drone: 4-10 million + repairs, operator salaries, mechanics, etc.

www.robinsonheli.com/price_lists_eocs/r44_1_pricelist.pdf

Price of a helicopter: 300-600K + pilot, repairs, mechanics, etc.

It seems as if the cost of purchasing/operating just 1 drone is far higher than that of 1 police helicopter. So "having a ****load of these things" flying around would be unthinkable for any police department unless they plan on downsizing man power considerably.
Click to expand...

To be fair, a Predator probably isn't the best example.
 
Military drones (US/Israel) are piloted by Air Force fighter pilots. Unless there is a very low flight ceiling, a civilian drone pilot would need FAA certification.
 
Hatuey said:
Yes and it'll be a long time before they make it into your home or your earlobe. Chill son. Slippery slopes aren't your forte.



General Atomics MQ-1 Predator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Price of a drone: 4-10 million + repairs, operator salaries, mechanics, etc.

www.robinsonheli.com/price_lists_eocs/r44_1_pricelist.pdf

Price of a helicopter: 300-600K + pilot, repairs, mechanics, etc.

It seems as if the cost of purchasing/operating just 1 drone is far higher than that of 1 police helicopter. So "having a ****load of these things" flying around would be unthinkable for any police department unless they plan on downsizing man power considerably.
Click to expand...
Sure when you compare one of the most expensive UAS's to one of the least expensive manned rotary wing aircraft. The mission packages are what worry me, not the aircraft.
 
I think the military has so many different types of drones that it is hard to say decisively who is flying them. In the US Army, there are jobs for Drone pilots. Some fly drones for target practice (ADA) and other fly drones for surveillance. All are "pilots", not all in the Air Force.
 
I think that'd be pretty neat, to have my own drone, 'cause I hate freeway traffic, and it would be really cool to fly to work.
 
Tashah said:
Military drones (US/Israel) are piloted by Air Force fighter pilots. Unless there is a very low flight ceiling, a civilian drone pilot would need FAA certification.
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The entire UAS FAA certification process has been very long and the military was a big proponent of it so they could fly from base to base, and overseas. They were stuck in military airspace CONUS until this was worked out.
 
Ontologuy said:
I think that'd be pretty neat, to have my own drone, 'cause I hate freeway traffic, and it would be really cool to fly to work.
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Uhh.....drones are unmanned.
 
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