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Are drones really dangerous to airplanes?
Imagine boarding a plane. Economy class. There's a kid behind you kicking the seat. You put on headphones and try to tune out the world. Immediately after takeoff, you feel a thud and hear an explosion over the sound of your music. The plane lurches. You look out the window at the plane's engine and see fire and black smoke. Terrifying, right? (phys.org) Mehr...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
You know what's dangerous to an airplane? Cutbacks in maintenance to save money. Overworking and underpaying pilots. But that's OK, keep feeding on mainstream media sensationalism.
And drones. :)
I appreciate the viewpoint, however I have two points to make: 1) The likelihood of a psychologically unstable bird trying to cause trouble by running into a plane is, I believe, a million times less likely than the possibility of a human in a similar condition doing the same and 2)If you happen to be on the plane that - despite tremendous odds against it- has a drone sucked into the engine and damage is caused, you are unlikely to care about how statistically improbable it is.
1) If you take away everything that a psychologically unstable person can use to commit mayhem, you have shut down life as we know it. Wouldn't the more sane approach be to identify and control the psychologically unstable?
2) Many people are killed every day by statistically improbable circumstances. I'll pray for their loved ones but you just have to say, "Wow! What was the chance of that happening?"
2) Many people are killed every day by statistically improbable circumstances. I'll pray for their loved ones but you just have to say, "Wow! What was the chance of that happening?"
Oh I totally agree to both. But I would just say that comparing the risk introduced by one bird to the risk introduced by 1 human operated drone might not be a completely fair comparison. Now, it may be that there are psychotic and/or devious birds out there, but of course it's hard to know since we don't speak their language or have them undergo psychoanalysis that often ;)
I see this from both sides, as a student pilot and a drone operator. Honestly, I'd like to see the results from a drone being sucked into an engine. Sadly, as has been pointed out, common sense is becoming less common and idiots are becoming more common. I'm the last one to want more government regulation but this is something that needs to be done. As my business develops with industrial drones, there are times the services I offer will be needed near an airport. I believe drones and aircraft can coexist to a certain extent, but there needs to be a lot of training and understanding on how fast feces can go downhill. Then again, my drone with $150k of equipment vs some moron who bought one for $100 are going to be flown differently.