I hated cell phones when they first became common. Seemed like everyone who had one had to talk loud enough so everyone around knew they had one. Now I don't step outside the house without mine. Technology takes some adapting. I think they used to call that future shock.

12 hours ago, PATCO LCH said:

I hated cell phones when they first became common. Seemed like everyone who had one had to talk loud enough so everyone around knew they had one. Now I don't step outside the house without mine. Technology takes some adapting. I think they used to call that future shock.

Eh? I have always talked quietly into my moby....cut conversation short if I'm on a bus. Some people don't get it and never will. They simply don't care ...nothing to do with adapting.

21 hours ago, bobbyjack said:

Laws concerning drones vary from place to place. Shooting at one is a particular problem. In most places, a homeowner's response to a threat must match that threat. Someone coming at you with a gun or knife can be met equally. Someone parked on your front lawn taking photos is not a physical threat. Plus firing at ground level is one thing, but firing into the air is quite another. What if you miss? That bullet of shotgun blast has to land somewhere. Even if you hit it, unless the bullet lodges in the drone, that bullet has to land somewhere. And certainly not all the balls from the shotgun hit the drone. And what if the drone you shot down hits and injures someone. In many places it is illegal to shoot an aircraft.  

I couldn't agree more. Any attempt to shoot down one of those things is pure insanity. It's hard for me to believe that any responsible gun owner would even suggest it. Especially someone living within a mile of anyone else. Even a .22LR bullet is capable of traveling 2,000 yards (1,800 m). Insanity...................

Edited April 22, 20206 yr by W2DR
kant spel

On 4/21/2020 at 2:16 PM, Chock said:

 

 I was impressed incidentally, she got it with literally one shot after a quick tutorial from me on how to load and use the rifle safely and how offset one's aim properly for steep trajectory shots. 

 

 

Err... just to point out to anyone who thinks it's a good idea to discharge a firearm into the air, at a drone, or anything.

A round can still have lethal velocity by the time it hits the ground, or a person.

Anything less than 45 degrees is going to give somebody a bad day if it hits them.

Greater than 45 degrees and it will lose speed and fall at terminal velocity. 

Even at greater than 45 degrees and falling at terminal velocity,  a person still wouldnt want a chunk of lead on the head

 

Chock is from the UK I recall. So I'm assuming he mans a .22 pellet gun. 

Still not a good idea, but thinking more about our american friends and the pastime they are infamous for.

Edited April 22, 20206 yr by martin-w

It's hard not to get annoyed when the quadrotor is being piloted in this manner... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8gNTWjyIT0

However, Billy is one crazy lady (glad she isn't my neighbour!).

I recall several years ago a young girl was killed in Charlotte inside a water park in Carowinds by a falling bullet. If I remember correctly it was an AK round fired by some dudes target practicing a long way from the park. How far I don't know but Carowinds is a very big theme park.

OK I just looked this incident up. It was 1987 and the teenage young lady was in the water park when an AK47 round entered her back and exited her abdomen . Five men where charged with having an unregistered heavy calibre fully automatic weapon that had been converted to semi auto. They were target practicing somewhere outside the 70 acre park so yes a falling bullet can be lethel.

.

Edited April 22, 20206 yr by PATCO LCH

1 hour ago, PATCO LCH said:

I recall several years ago a young girl was killed in Charlotte inside a water park in Carowinds by a falling bullet. If I remember correctly it was an AK round fired by some dudes target practicing a long way from the park. How far I don't know but Carowinds is a very big theme park.

OK I just looked this incident up. It was 1987 and the teenage young lady was in the water park when an AK47 round entered her back and exited her abdomen . Five men where charged with having an unregistered heavy calibre fully automatic weapon that had been converted to semi auto. They were target practicing somewhere outside the 70 acre park so yes a falling bullet can be lethel.

.

 

Yep, can be absolutely lethal. Actually Myth Busters did an episode on this some years ago. I recall a story about one guy who was sitting on his porch snoozing, suddenly found himself with a bullet buried in his thigh. 

There are some gun owners who aren't  aware of the physics involved and so don't understand the danger, others are just incompetent idiots. 

Every 4th of July I spend the night in my basement sleeping on the couch I have down there. Too many dang fools shooting their guns (some automatic) in the air. A few years ago I found a bullet in my garage and then spotted the entry hole in the roof. Fortunately it missed my car by about a foot...

5 hours ago, n4gix said:

Every 4th of July I spend the night in my basement sleeping on the couch I have down there. Too many dang fools shooting their guns (some automatic) in the air. A few years ago I found a bullet in my garage and then spotted the entry hole in the roof. Fortunately it missed my car by about a foot...

 

Good grief. So many morons in society. What state is that?

I understand why guns are prevalent in the US, with the huge amount of open space, people hunting, the, some would say, dubiously interpreted second amendment, but so glad the UK is gun free. 

8 hours ago, martin-w said:

Good grief. So many morons in society. What state is that?

...but so glad the UK is gun free. 

Northwest Indiana, just across the border from southside Chicago, one of the poorest and crime-ridden areas in Chicagoland... A lot of the crap and crime there spills across the border. <sigh>

Well "gun free" except perhaps for the truly criminal element.

On 4/20/2020 at 10:07 AM, HighBypass said:

mainstream media always does and sensationalising out of proportion!

Truer words were never spoken.  This and just flat out lying on top of it!!

On 4/22/2020 at 3:13 AM, Dave Morgan said:

I found yesterday on one forum or another (possibly not Avsim) a comment re. social distancing and isolation along the lines of "and because the skies are empty I ignored the 400' limit and took it up to 1500". I don't object to that if the skies really are empty but I do object strongly to childish and word not allowed use leading to invasion of privacy.

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/571519-do-we-cancel-everything-you-still-travelling/?do=findComment&comment=4213331

Yup. Happily due to discussions like these, and well-published condemnation of silly drone antics, there is less and less idiocy around these things. Like laser pointing, it can be shown to be Not Cool to be stupid.

Airspace intrusion: DJI who own most of the small drone market, are pro-active in protecting restricted airspace.

 https://www.dji.com/nz/flysafe/introduction

You can unlock this but you have to tell DJI. This can then be tracked later.

Damage to aircraft: I haven't found good references about the effects of a drone strike, and what size/weight would not be a big issue. But drones over 400g in many countries require registration, and so allow follow up.

Privacy: Most countries have privacy laws which protect your rights. Agreed Johnny's little buzzer has a large annoyance factor. But a word with his parents can do wonders, and he will in any event get bored with the thing quite soon. Actually a periscope over the fence invades privacy just as much as a drone; it's the fact that it's in noisy in your face that multiplies the irritation.   

Recourse: It's quite difficult to snoop anonymously and continuously. Somebody will figure out who has the drone, especially when registration has spread over the fleet. As mentioned, a quiet word can have the desired effect. Failing that, the Authorities, preferably in hi-viz gear, can make a public visit to the miscreant. And so on. Happy to see the comments about not shooting at the thing. 

Note regarding my own high-altitude flight: the closest airfield is closed, I am outside restricted airspace, and Flight Radar was open on my phone. Also line of sight and a working pair of ears ensured nothing was likely to go wrong here. Nobody's privacy was ever compromised. 

Happy flying.

 

15 hours ago, n4gix said:

 

Well "gun free" except perhaps for the truly criminal element.

 

Yep, I was thinking relatively. 

11 hours ago, WingZ said:

...especially when registration has spread over the fleet....

Or not... My Raptor 30 heli will stay in it's trashed state and my 450 size electric heli will sit collecting dust. The BMFA and especially the CAA will NOT be getting any money from me. Ok, so they may have won by me not flying traditional line of sight models (at the moment), but I would hope that the CAA cannot keep pouring money into the scheme if they do not get the take-up. By all means have automatic registration when someone buys a brand new quadrotor with "data collection devices" - i.e. camera etc.on it, but leave the traditional LOS models alone. They'll be going after model rocketry next - I have quite a lot of those which can bust through 400 feet AGL easily with no hope of making them avoid anything during their flights... (on the flip side, they are unguided in the first place and so cannot home in on a passing GE90).

30 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

on the flip side, they are unguided in the first place and so cannot home in on a passing GE90

Well, with electronics getting cheaper these days, I'm sure you can figure something out. 😈