kallend 1,666 #1 November 28, 2013 www.walb.com/story/24047984/crooks-get-creative-to-smuggle-contraband... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rhaig 0 #2 November 29, 2013 I'm sure you were thinking that they should have upgraded and they wouldn't have been spotted. I have to wonder if an evening overfly with a drop in the yard to be picked up the next day might have been a better plan. I don't know much about the remote drone tech... is there tech for longer flights from electrics available now or is gas the only thing for decently long flights?-- Rob Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
swisschris62 0 #3 November 29, 2013 Quite the crew they found in the woods... Which of the 4 you think had the drone? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 1,666 #4 November 29, 2013 rhaigI'm sure you were thinking that they should have upgraded and they wouldn't have been spotted. I have to wonder if an evening overfly with a drop in the yard to be picked up the next day might have been a better plan. I don't know much about the remote drone tech... is there tech for longer flights from electrics available now or is gas the only thing for decently long flights? Gas powered multicopters present serious engineering (control) problems. Also noisy, a big disadvantage for an illegal mission. The overwhelming majority are electric using Lithium-Polymer batteries and rare-earth magnet brushless motors. Most of the noise then comes from the propellers. The machine these people used looks like a DJI Flamewheel F550 (this is a consumer grade machine, same as one of mine, attached pic.) which has a duration up to maybe 15 minutes depending on battery. It doesn't appear to have an autonomous capability which is why, I presume, they had to watch it with binoculars. The autonomous add-on for that only costs $299 so I guess they were cheapskates. With the add-on you can program a "mission" on an iPad, upload to the machine, and it will fly the mission, return and land itself. Also the props they used aren't known for being quiet. If they were really serious they'd use a high end machine with more duration, greater range, autonomous capability, quiet props, and less likelihood of being caught. Cheapskates!... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,404 #5 December 2, 2013 Looks like the convicts may be able to just place their orders with Amazon in the future.http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/jeff-bezos-really-delivering-those-drones-163501882.html "There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 1,666 #6 December 2, 2013 ryoder Looks like the convicts may be able to just place their orders with Amazon in the future.http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/jeff-bezos-really-delivering-those-drones-163501882.html Thus far the USA (FAA) is lagging a long way behind Australia and Europe in setting up an operational framework for the commercial use of these. However, for hobby use there are essentially no restrictions right now.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
