US announces that Drones will now have to be registered.

[Derrel]

I disagree that this craze "will pass"...personally, I think that it's going to become more prevalent. I recall the CB radio craze, with strict licensing and FCC enforcement efforts to find and fine unlicensed operators, but now...ehhh...the US govt. has relaxed on it a lot, and the craze HAS in fact, passed from popularity to oddity.

My personal feeling is that the so-called authorities in the USA are being incredibly over-reactive, making this into a huge boogeyman issue when it really is not that big an issue. But I could be wrong about that. I really am not certain what could or might happen if a small copter is impacted by a full-sized helicopters rotors; will the drone be smashed to smithereens? Will the full-size helicopter's rotors suffer catastrophic failure? What about jet aircraft? What would happen if a small quad copter were sucked into one of the engines of say, a 737 at low altitude?

Any ideas, case studies, news articles, or scientific papers or studies showing how much damage these small copters can/could do to larger aircraft?

 

[tirediron]

I disagree that this craze "will pass"...personally, I think that it's going to become more prevalent. I recall the CB radio craze, with strict licensing and FCC enforcement efforts to find and fine unlicensed operators, but now...ehhh...the US govt. has relaxed on it a lot, and the craze HAS in fact, passed from popularity to oddity...

Interestingly enough, the CB radio craze was exactly what I had in mind; it lasted for what maybe five years? The only people who use them now are people who actually need that form of communication. I'm sure in a few years, the drone craze will fizzle out and their use will be relegated to serious entheusiasts (who by and large follow the rules), and those who have an actual use for them.

 

[480sparky]

......... But I could be wrong about that. I really am not certain what could or might happen if a small copter is impacted by a full-sized helicopters rotors; will the drone be smashed to smithereens? Will the full-size helicopter's rotors suffer catastrophic failure? What about jet aircraft? What would happen if a small quad copter were sucked into one of the engines of say, a 737 at low altitude?.........

$Millions has been spent studying what happens with bird strikes, and birds are fairly 'soft' in terms of impacts. I suspect a 'hard' drone could easily cause much more damage.

 

[480sparky]

I disagree that this craze "will pass"...personally, I think that it's going to become more prevalent. I recall the CB radio craze, with strict licensing and FCC enforcement efforts to find and fine unlicensed operators, but now...ehhh...the US govt. has relaxed on it a lot, and the craze HAS in fact, passed from popularity to oddity...

Interestingly enough, the CB radio craze was exactly what I had in mind; it lasted for what maybe five years? The only people who use them now are people who actually need that form of communication. I'm sure in a few years, the drone craze will fizzle out and their use will be relegated to serious entheusiasts (who by and large follow the rules), and those who have an actual use for them.

The CB radio craze has declined in part due to FRS radio and other open-to-the-public frequencies, as well as the advent of cell phones.

So far, I see no 'replacement' on the horizon for drones.

 

[cgw]

I disagree that this craze "will pass"...personally, I think that it's going to become more prevalent. I recall the CB radio craze, with strict licensing and FCC enforcement efforts to find and fine unlicensed operators, but now...ehhh...the US govt. has relaxed on it a lot, and the craze HAS in fact, passed from popularity to oddity.

My personal feeling is that the so-called authorities in the USA are being incredibly over-reactive, making this into a huge boogeyman issue when it really is not that big an issue. But I could be wrong about that. I really am not certain what could or might happen if a small copter is impacted by a full-sized helicopters rotors; will the drone be smashed to smithereens? Will the full-size helicopter's rotors suffer catastrophic failure? What about jet aircraft? What would happen if a small quad copter were sucked into one of the engines of say, a 737 at low altitude?

Any ideas, case studies, news articles, or scientific papers or studies showing how much damage these small copters can/could do to larger aircraft?

Remember this one?

Airplane crash-lands into Hudson River; all aboard reported safe - CNN.com

 

[cgw]

A little Phantom drone wouldn't do anything to a 747 or above. Smaller planes, yeah.

Either way most are limited to 400ft, which is the air space that RC planes used for decades with no problem.

Before said 787 even lands after being hit by a drone, they will be outlawed due to the knee-jerk, Chicken Little reactionists.

Any dope with enough scratch to buy a GoPro and a drone isn't entitled to bring down an airliner on take-off or landing. Silly? Hardly.

You must not be aware of the 5-mile radius law.

I am but they aren't and that's the problem.

 

[waday]

This thread is droning on

 

[runnah]

I disagree that this craze "will pass"...personally, I think that it's going to become more prevalent. I recall the CB radio craze, with strict licensing and FCC enforcement efforts to find and fine unlicensed operators, but now...ehhh...the US govt. has relaxed on it a lot, and the craze HAS in fact, passed from popularity to oddity.

My personal feeling is that the so-called authorities in the USA are being incredibly over-reactive, making this into a huge boogeyman issue when it really is not that big an issue. But I could be wrong about that. I really am not certain what could or might happen if a small copter is impacted by a full-sized helicopters rotors; will the drone be smashed to smithereens? Will the full-size helicopter's rotors suffer catastrophic failure? What about jet aircraft? What would happen if a small quad copter were sucked into one of the engines of say, a 737 at low altitude?

Any ideas, case studies, news articles, or scientific papers or studies showing how much damage these small copters can/could do to larger aircraft?

Remember this one?

Airplane crash-lands into Hudson River; all aboard reported safe - CNN.com

That was a flock of geese weighing anaverage of 7-14lbs each. A 3lb single drone isn't going to do nearly as much damage.

 

[runnah]

$Millions has been spent studying what happens with bird strikes, and birds are fairly 'soft' in terms of impacts. I suspect a 'hard' drone could easily cause much more damage.

Disagree, you hit a bird and it turns into a meat sack, hit a drone and it shatters into little pieces. Plus a bird big enough to be a threat to a plan would weight much more than an average drone.

 

[cgw]

$Millions has been spent studying what happens with bird strikes, and birds are fairly 'soft' in terms of impacts. I suspect a 'hard' drone could easily cause much more damage.

Disagree, you hit a bird and it turns into a meat sack, hit a drone and it shatters into little pieces. Plus a bird big enough to be a threat to a plan would weight much more than an average drone.

You're kidding, right? Little pieces just slip right between the fan vanes with no problem. Jeesh.

 

[JacaRanda]

Okay, I'm not sure what I am agreeing to. What I do know is that I don't want to be in a plane, helicopter nor jet of any size that is interfered with by a drone. No matter how large the jet or how small the drone.

Not even typing what kind of stuff could possibly be put on a drone but guessing if it can lift a GoPro it could lift..... I have had to throw out travel sized bottles of lotions before boarding before.

It's a crazy world out there. I know because I read TPF

 

[runnah]

$Millions has been spent studying what happens with bird strikes, and birds are fairly 'soft' in terms of impacts. I suspect a 'hard' drone could easily cause much more damage.

Disagree, you hit a bird and it turns into a meat sack, hit a drone and it shatters into little pieces. Plus a bird big enough to be a threat to a plan would weight much more than an average drone.

You're kidding, right? Little pieces just slip right between the fan vanes with no problem. Jeesh.

Nope. Sure there would be some damage but not nearly as much as a bunch of geese hitting the vanes. Also birds can clog intakes.

At approach speeds a drone would just bounce of the windscreen. They aren't nearly as heavy and dense as people think.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I think these can go farther and higher than RC; they're considered unmanned aircraft. I think it's a good idea to have them all be registered.

There have already been incidents in my area a couple of times with one interfering with air care trying to land. How much damage one could cause seems to be a moot point - the choppers will not land if a drone is being flown at the scene. So the person injured (and probably in critical condition if they needed to be airlifted) was delayed in getting transported to the hospital. I think that's enough to make it a law that these need to be registered so if there is a violation of airspace or an interference with care flight choppers that could more likely be enforced.

There was interference with some fire fighting choppers recently on the west coast; I read that there were 5 drones at the scene and a couple of them were even following/chasing the helicopters. If the choppers were prevented from being able to work on extinguishing the fires, something has to be done.

Apparently there are way more of these being flown that was ever anticipated. I think too that eventually the novelty will wear off and many will end up in garages and basements, except for people who have a real use for them.

 

[Braineack]

worried about vanes? add a grill, then cook bacon.

 

[Dave442]

And to register the drone the govt should request that the applicant have taken a two week course on proper drone safety, and only professional photographers be allowed to place a recording devise on said drone.