To be fair, that drone crash was right outside of Pax River, one of NAVAIR (Naval Air Systems Command) primary aviation flight test facilities. For better or worse, it's the price of living that close to a large naval air station, no different from when you have other training and test exercises. The area is pretty rural which is why they continue these sorts of activities there.

I would add that in terms of accidents, drones aren't going to be any more problematic than police and their current fleet of fixed and rotary wing aircraft. The drone that crashed for example, the Global Hawk, is a poor example: it's a massive vehicle that costs $176M a piece, about three times as much as a Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. No way that police departments are going to be allowed to fly anything like this (and honestly, for the sort of activities they would use drones for, it would be a very poor fit).



No, the drones that would create the most privacy concerns domestically are going to be smaller ones that one make nearly the same sort of mess when it crashes. Theoretically, the cost of buying them and wrongful death lawsuits are going to make police departments wary of using them too recklessly. Plenty of reasons to be worried about drone use domestically, but this would be low on the list (assuming that do proper certification for flying these things).

6/11/2012 5:26:30 PM

Quote :

"To be fair, that drone crash was right outside of Pax River, one of NAVAIR (Naval Air Systems Command) primary aviation flight test facilities."

...Yeah, I know. I have done a lot of work with them.


Outside of the make of the drone, where it was flying, and what it was used for.... I think the point still stands that more drones = more 'accidents'. Especially costly accidents if the area under surveillance isn't a rural, uninhabited swath of land; but instead a densely packed metropolitan area.

6/11/2012 5:38:45 PM

Yes, it was a crash outside of Pax River, in the sense that it didn't happen directly over the airfield. It did, however, crash directly inside of the restricted military airspace. Unfortunately, sometimes that's the cost of doing that kind of business (flight test).

^your fears are just as unfounded as people's fear of flying in general. but you must realize that.

[Edited on June 11, 2012 at 5:40 PM. Reason : .]

6/11/2012 5:39:29 PM

Unfounded? First of all, it's more of a concern... not a fear.

In the sense that drone crashes aren't as widely known to the general public as domestic civilian plane crashes ( publicly available knowledge - http://www.faa.gov/data_research/) ... sure.

I don't think that any prudent person (capable of doing a tiny bit of online research) would dismiss the number of drone crashes as unfounded though.




P.S., I'd even be more accepting of the fact that military aircraft aren't held to the same safety standards as things that might interact with the civilian public. But unfounded? guffaw.



[Edited on June 11, 2012 at 5:58 PM. Reason : GUFFAW I SAY!!1one1]]

6/11/2012 5:55:53 PM

I didn't think it was possible to find a more progressive liberal than moron, but JesusHChrist we've found one.

I need to stay out of TSB.

I think people should be far less concerned with what these drones are doing overseas and more focused on what they could be doing domestically.

Apple announced today that they've got military grade surveillance that can zoom in on an object as small as 4 inches. There is no longer a right to privacy in this country.

6/11/2012 7:11:26 PM

Quote :

"I don't think that any prudent person (capable of doing a tiny bit of online research) would dismiss the number of drone crashes as unfounded though."

I guess I'm incapable because I'm sure not finding too much in the way of flight hours and incident rates for unmanned aircraft.

Would be happy to see what data you're basing your concerns off though. The burden of proof is on you. Any rational person will be convinced to the degree of your evidence. Until you present any, your premise is unfounded

6/11/2012 7:21:55 PM

That's kind of silly, man. I really don't have any interest in doing common sense research for you, trying to convince you that drones not only crash, but have a much higher accident rate than manned aircraft. Google "UAV Crash rates/statistic", and you should be given plenty of studies related to the reported crashes, training hours, human errors related to the crashes, drones that the AF has had to shoot out of the sky, etc.

If you really can't see a valid concern from this data (even given these are only reported incidents with the military), and see how this ratio would be much higher than civilian accidents domestically... label me "unfounded"

6/11/2012 7:39:39 PM

what data?

You've presented none. You made a claim. Back it up. That's all I'm asking. I'd have no problem accepting your concerns if you had any evidence to show. As it stands, I'm utterly unconvinced that I should be worried about a drone crashing into my house.

6/11/2012 7:56:55 PM

Alright, I'm going to need you to go back and read my posts. You seem to be under the impression that someone said there is a drone flying over your house that might crash into it.

6/11/2012 8:10:53 PM

Ha. Okay, I'm unconvinced I should be worried about increased rates of death and property damage from the sky.

Regardless, I'm honestly curious about flight hour and incident rates for drones as compared to commercial and civil aviation, so if you do have any data I'd be interested in checking it out.

6/11/2012 8:21:01 PM

Like I thought... apparently, you are satisfied with manufacturing some scenario about drones flying over your house, and then asking people to disprove it. I think this discussion has run its course.

6/11/2012 8:30:50 PM

Quote :

"I can't help but think that once every police force has drones to fly around, there will be many MANY more crashes... possibly damaging personal property and/or killing civilians."

Wait, I manufactured that scenario? Wat?

6/11/2012 8:39:31 PM

Quote :

"As it stands, I'm utterly unconvinced that I should be worried about a drone crashing into my house."

Seriously man, no one is talking about drones currently flying over your house. Give it up. It's painfully obvious you have nothing to add here. Just give it up.

[Edited on June 11, 2012 at 8:43 PM. Reason : d]

6/11/2012 8:43:01 PM

As it stands, I'm utterly unconvinced that I should be worried about a drone crashing into my house into a populated area and causing death and destruction at some point in the near future.

How about now? Is that pedantic enough for you?

[Edited on June 11, 2012 at 8:58 PM. Reason : oh well]

6/11/2012 8:47:25 PM

Dang,

this mug certainly got grizzly g

EMCE was fucking Timothy Treadwell and jwb9984 was the bear yadig?

6/12/2012 10:05:12 PM

crashes? you guys are in here talking about crashes?

we are becoming a full fledged police state.

6/13/2012 7:34:17 PM

^ speaking of police state, I happened across this article/poll earlier


http://tinyurl.com/7b73l3q

Basically saying,
People seem to be OK using for drones for catching criminals, immigrants, SAR, etc... But NOT for issuing speeding tickets.

6/13/2012 8:11:14 PM

Drones don't weight very much. While they no doubt could easily kill a person or two when they crash, even people inside a building, the odds are very much against it. We'd be talking something like a death a year or something else totally irrelevant to anything.

The discussion should only ever be the use of drones to wage perpetual war upon the populations of other countries. That really does cost human lives.

That said, I thought a cop could follow you in his car without any warrant or anything. Why should drones have a higher standard?

[Edited on June 14, 2012 at 12:09 PM. Reason : .,.]

6/14/2012 12:05:25 PM

b/c for a cop to do it requires an entire human being that requires a salary and shit. drones are, more or less, limitless.

6/14/2012 2:13:43 PM

they're unmanned

not unpiloted

or unmaintained

6/14/2012 6:38:10 PM

6/14/2012 7:11:18 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/06/20/when-drones-fall-from-the-sky/?hpid=z1


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/drone-crashes/database/

6/20/2014 1:57:07 PM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/01/19/more-u-s-military-drones-are-crashing-than-ever-as-new-problems-emerge/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_drones-10pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

1/19/2016 10:07:35 PM