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Drones

OH goodie... State Troopers are getting drones too... oops, "unmanned aircraft"

the following quote I fear is all too true.. "In the not-too-distant future, explaining life before the advent of drones to young children will be like trying to explain life before the Internet, apps and smart phones to a kid today".

All of us, and those young folks that fly and who are going to be making a career in this booming field need to enjoy what little freedom of manned flight we have as it's soon to be history.

It's funny how all these proposed uses for unmanned aircraft have been successfully accomplished with pilots in Pipers, Cessna's and the like for years. It's like these folks smacked their forehead and said..."wow, with a drone we could look down at floods, fires, moose, fields, you name it..."

kind of like they never heard of General Aviation's commercial side.
 
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jrh, Good read. Page 629 has a little information on collision with other aircraft and discusses the lack of avoidance software in the drones at this time.
 
Here's our local drone base. Nothing on a sectional. Thought maybe I'd drop in some day and see whats going on.



Glenn
 
Glenn,
Your local drone base has been there since at least 1995. That is as long as I can recall seeing the "base". Has been a mystery to me. Think it is some sort of radio/radar test base for military A/C.
Every so often there is a military looking plane hanging from the big hook.
Maybe some SC driver can help identify what the micro airport is actually used for.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2
 
Glenn's drone base from Google satilite images. The entrance road is called "USAF test site" by google.
 

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Bill, North of that spot is Griffiss (RME ) airport. 20 years ago it was a SAC Base. Budget cut closed it in the 90s. That new drone runway went in last summer. Originally that spot on the hill was a radar ground test site. When Griffiss AFB was active they had different aircraft that they hauled up on cranes on that hill to test the radar back at the base. If you look in the photo I first posted you can see the red and white towers in the back round. Sometimes when you would fly by they would have a C130 or a B52 hanging at different angles between the towers. Even saw a C130 inverted hanging there once. It's odd to me that it's not marked on a chart if they are going to be flying there ? Look just south a few hundred feet of the runways and you can see the test circle.



Glenn
 
Now that you mention it I do not think the "runways" have been there all that long.
The last time I was in that area was spring of 2012 and the runways existed then....
Still a mystery as to what the runways are for.
The runways are very short. STOL short and without clear approach paths.
You land there and I will watch to see if you get shot by the USAF guards.
 
On sunday around 4:30PM bout 18 miles south southwest of llano, TX I have a "friend" that came within 10 feet of a head on collision with a drone that was roughly 4' wide and around 1.5'-2' tall. It had a gold colored body and black rotors, quad copter style design. It was really weird cause it seemed a mile or two away and within a moment was right infront of the prop, depth perception issue. My friend was exactly 500' AGL n there was nothing but woods beneath and in surrounding area. He circled back but couldn't find it nor anyone on the ground operating it, this is why he believes it was not an RC and was a drone. Should have hit the sumbitch and taken one for the team ;)

There was a state park about 8 miles west and possibly someone was operating out of there. These things are going to cause a midair sooner than later...hope it doesn't take someone getting hurt to shut this BS down till they have better sense and avoid technology. I repeat this was a friend mr/mrs FAA person, not me and I have nothing to do with this. The pilot chooses to remain anonymous because he doesn't want to deal with federal red tape possibly involved with reporting this, thank you! Be careful out there people...
 
Skalywag said:
...The pilot chooses to remain anonymous because he doesn't want to deal with federal red tape possibly involved with reporting this, thank you!...
Click to expand...

It's very unfortunate your friend is taking this position. It means it never happened.

If he would have reported a near miss to the FAA we would at least begin the trail of events that will someday lead to regulating these menaces to aviation. Instead the only thing we are closer to is a mid-air that perhaps kills a family - maybe mine, maybe yours, maybe your friend's.
 
Dang Phil that's a low blow ;)

You know the pilot, he's hard headed as ****! Pretty sure he figures reporting to his friends where and when it happened was the best he could do without risking some kind of investigation and putting the spotlight on him...Since he flies for a living he can't risk having any issues with work. Like they say, "they're not happy till you're not happy" sad but true!
 
Skalywag said:
Dang Phil that's a low blow ;)

You know the pilot, he's hard headed as ****! Pretty sure he figures reporting to his friends where and when it happened was the best he could do without risking some kind of investigation and putting the spotlight on him...Since he flies for a living he can't risk having any issues with work. Like they say, "they're not happy till you're not happy" sad but true!
Click to expand...

Then why not report the incident right after you file a NASA report. If this stuff is not reported by pilots who have near misses, the first the feds will know about it is when someone is dead.

Easy choice.

Here's a link to the form...
https://titan-server.arc.nasa.gov/HTML_ERS/general.html
 
This drone situation is nothing new. About 25 years ago one of my coworkers was flying over the Rockies in the 30,000 foot atmosphere when he had a close call with a drone. The ATC controller was unaware that it was there. I happened to be on the frequency at the same time and overheard the conversation. Later he described the drone to me. As I recall it was perhaps one of those military drones which have been used in the recent conflicts.
 
Kirby, the default mode with most of the autopilots on these things is to return to where it first started and land.

sj
 
The wheels are turning in my mind---wonder if somebody could build a quad big enough to lift 50 gallons and a 30 foot spray boom. Maybe could program in swathes and never go higher than 10 feet and stay within the border of the field. Have a tender on the edge of the field to refill with spray. It's raining right now so my ground rig is parked.:lol:
 
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