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Drones May Be Allowed to Share U.S. Skies
The Washington Post ^
| 100403
| Renae Merle
Posted on 10/04/2003 6:51:36 AM PDT by Archangelsk
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As a pilot, I have to say not no, but hell no, to this idea. We have enough problems in controlled airspace with saturation and now NASA wants to put something that violates the whole concept of "see and avoid" in the mix?
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2
posted on
10/04/2003 6:53:17 AM PDT
by
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To: Archangelsk
I'm okay with it and I fly (as a passenger) every week. These UAVs are all piloted by someone on the ground. For these vehicles I say, "What's the difference between having a pilot in the plane or on the ground?"
To: BeerSwillr; Criminal Number 18F
Which turns into a complacency issue. Afterall, if you're not at risk then you will naturally relax (happens all the time in simulators, unless your job is on the line).
4
posted on
10/04/2003 6:58:24 AM PDT
by
Archangelsk
(Air conditioners are for wimps.)
Comment #5 Removed by Moderator
To: Motherbear
What cracks me up is that the same people who spend most of their time here wigging out about the border situation will freak out about this, re:Patriot Act, blah, blah, blah.
6
posted on
10/04/2003 7:04:26 AM PDT
by
The Coopster
(Tha's no ordinary rabbit!)
To: Archangelsk
As a pilot, I have to say not no, but hell no, to this idea. AMEN! When ATC shows me they have a handle on piloted traffic, then I'll reconsider, but when I contstantly hear ATC make mistakes with piloted A/C I can only imagine what unpiloted A/C would add to the mix.
To: Archangelsk
EXPLOIT ROBOT LABOR!
8
posted on
10/04/2003 7:27:54 AM PDT
by
JOE6PAK
("Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils."-Hector Berlioz)
To: BeerSwillr
And those pilots on the ground don't even need to be on US soil. You could farm it out to Indian drone-pilots!
To: Archangelsk
I wonder how long it will be until the US Military develops these as UAVs:
FYI, that's an HK (Hunter-Killer aka Human Killer) from the Terminator movies.
10
posted on
10/04/2003 7:50:06 AM PDT
by
xrp
To: Archangelsk
What's the big deal? I drive to work every morning surrounded by mindless drones.
11
posted on
10/04/2003 8:18:09 AM PDT
by
Redcloak
(Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.)
To: Thermalseeker
..but when I contstantly hear ATC make mistakes with piloted A/C.. Really? Constantly? With three levels of controllers, enroute/terminal/tower, in the ATC mix, thousands of flights daily, a steady stream of commercial flights in and out of major airports, to what constant mistakes are you referring?
Are you talking about the all those midair collisions we hear of attributed to ATC and not pilot error? You know, like when ... Or maybe that time of ...
Sure, ATC will have its errors. But throwing UAV's in the mix is no worse than dealing with an Arabic accented GA pilot who understands nothing being told to him/her.
12
posted on
10/04/2003 8:21:07 AM PDT
by
Thommas
To: Archangelsk
As a pilot, I have to say not no, but hell no, to this idea. We have enough problems in controlled airspace with saturation and now NASA wants to put something that violates the whole concept of "see and avoid" in the mix?
The "see-and-avoid" principle applies to highway traffic and it results in 40,000 deaths a year. If we need to have cargo moved across country I would prefer it be done by a drone at 40,000 feet under GPS guidance and computer control than by some meth-crazed trucker five feet off my bumper.
(Apologies in advance to meth-crazed truckers)
To: Dan Evans
Your assuming that aviation will ever have the lift capability that surface trucking has. As far as GPS guidance goes, it took a gazillion years (pardon my exageration) to certify WAAS and I think it will take a quintillion more to certify GPS, WAAS, and LAAS guidance.
14
posted on
10/04/2003 10:38:10 AM PDT
by
Archangelsk
(Air conditioners are for wimps.)
To: Archangelsk
Your assuming that aviation will ever have the lift capability that surface trucking has. As far as GPS guidance goes, it took a gazillion years (pardon my exageration) to certify WAAS and I think it will take a quintillion more to certify GPS, WAAS, and LAAS guidance.
True, government inertia can never be overestimated. I hope this talk of privatizing air traffic control could be an indicator that the regulatory climate is relaxing.
On the practical side, we use both ground and air transportation for parcels. Eliminating the cost of two pilots will change the ratio towards more air transport. Also Boeing is working on heavy lift capability (over sea.)
To: Dan Evans
Privatizing ATC has been tried in Europe and the results have been dismal, it's why we have flocks of foreigners training here rather than over there (cost). Incidentally, nearly all of these flocks are training to become hired pilots rather than GA ones.
As impressive as the Pelican is, its carriage capacity pales in comparison to a Maersk ship, but its cost would give a herd of bean counters a heart attack. The cost of the overhead (crew) is miniscule compared to the efficiency, or lack there of, of the lift.
16
posted on
10/04/2003 11:08:10 AM PDT
by
Archangelsk
(Air conditioners are for wimps.)
To: Archangelsk
Yeah, these drones will actually be used on the border areas. For what? Making sure an illegal doesn't sprain his ankle without help being called in within minutes? They certainly have no intention, as they prove every day, of detering his progress north, so this must be to eleminate injury or starvation, spy on border patrol groups, and citizens.
More likely drones will eventually be airborne to watch citizens, especially if any revolution begins to forment within the Balkanized masses.
To: Archangelsk
Is this from Terminator I, II, or III?
18
posted on
10/04/2003 11:17:05 AM PDT
by
per loin
To: Archangelsk
Actually, wouldn't the advantage of automated air transport be more of an advantage for smaller cargos where the cost of the pilot is a larger fraction of operating costs?
To: Archangelsk
I like the idea personally. But then again I love robots and new technology... more time for us to create art and music. :)
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