Developer Comment by Adam Rivera on July 13, 2011 at 9:45am

I think that drones do present a threat, but not necessarily that much more of a threat as a suicide bomber or car bomber. There are two sides of me here... one side says, "great... more rules, more regulations, less freedom to enjoy my hobby" and the other side says, "yes, i suppose someone could do harm with this technology." But isn't that always the case? I mean, consider gun control (oh boy, this is a hot topic!!). My feeling is that, yes people who buy guns and are licensed could decide to do something bad with that gun, but we can't just go around limiting peoples freedoms because of what might happen.

Comment by Dano on July 13, 2011 at 12:48pm

You can "weaponize" just about anything from a rock to a car to a candlestick... If there is a will there is a way

Developer Comment by John Arne Birkeland on July 13, 2011 at 4:16pm

I will say my usual piece about this topic. Using drones for a terrorist attack makes little sense. There are hundreds of things that can go wrong with a drone. And about a thousand ways to do the same job using other means that require less resources. The only reason to consider using a drone would have to be to for the terrorists to show off technical expertise.

Comment by Toby Mills on July 13, 2011 at 5:05pm

Comment by Toby Mills 1 minute ago
Delete Comment I wish I got paid that guys salary to just write rubbish. That was one of te most I'll informed and poorly researched articles on the topic I have ever read.
The reality is an fpv radio control plane can do about 90% of the functions performed by a 100k military drone and can be made for a few hundred bucks.
As with any technology its how it's used that makes it dangerous.
A $5 laser pointer can bring down a jetliner if it's used maliciously.

Comment by Lew Payne on July 14, 2011 at 9:38am

@Toby - I searched for articles about laser pointers bringing down aircraft, as you claim.  I could find none.  Could you please cite your sources; I'm curious if this is just conjecture on your part, speculation or facts.  I don't mean a paper that states its theoretically possible, or instances in which pilots have been temporarily blinded - I'm talking about instances in which a laser pointer has actually brought down an aircraft.

 

You also stated that an FPV aircraft "can do about 90% of the functions performed by a 100K military drone" - how did you arrive at that 90% figure?  Can you provide a list of functions that an FPV aircraft cannot perform, but a military drone can?  Perhaps those functions (the 10%) are what justify the price of a military drone.

 

I'm just curious what the factual basis is for your statements and conclusions.

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