FAA chief says drones will force change at agency (30,000 drones by 2020)

Wash Times ^

[Red in Blue PA]

LAS VEGAS — For the Federal Aviation Administration, regulating the skies is about to get much more complicated. The FAA’s acting administrator, Michael P. Huerta, told drone industry leaders gathered in Las Vegas on Tuesday that the agency is poised to “realign” itself to prepare for the coming explosion of unmanned aerial vehicles. They’re now available only to military and law enforcement, but the FAA will begin granting personal and commercial licenses in 2015. It estimates that there could be as many as 30,000 drones flying above the U.S. by 2020.

[SandRat]

I can see a Red Neck Drone Hunt coming too.

[SkyDancer]

So how high do they fly to be effective; or how low do they fly to be effective?

[Don Corleone]

That is more drones in flight than there are aircraft in flight over the USA at any time.

[Yosemitest]

Rember:

"Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast,
which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful,
whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass;
which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;
And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell;
even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things,
whose look was more stout than his fellows.
I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High;
and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
Thus he said,
The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,
which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth,
and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:
and another shall rise after them;
and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High,
and THINK to change times and laws:
and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
But the judgment shall sit,
and they shall take away his dominion,
to consume and to destroy it unto the end."

And also remember:

"And he doeth great wonders,
so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast;
saying to them that dwell on the earth,
that they should make an image to the beast,
which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast,
that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell,
save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

Just a thought, BUT

Could the "... mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads ..."be
the actions of their work done by their hands,
and the principles they act upon in their minds?

[BwanaNdege]

What is it with these idiot scientists, economists, journalists and ist-ists?

Making predictions 17 years in the future? Was “2020” just a nice round number? Why not 2023?

Not quite as idiotic as making 50 year predictions, I guess.

By 2020, Congress may be taxing air. Bloomberg may have banned “Big Gulps” thereof, even if you have just finished running his marathon or surfaced from a sunken Staten Island Ferry.

IOW, there might not be enough air for 30,000 drones to fly in!

[Terry Mross]

Don’t worry about the drones flying overhead. They’re owned by your friends.

[grumpygresh]

Wonder when we will see a drone-commercial plane collision?