4 ms·

Wait, you want to arm every airport in the country with anti-aircraft weaponry? Who exactly is going to man and operate these weapons?

Consultant32452 9y ago
Obviously the folks who get to fondle your junk in the security line will take turns.
romwell 9y ago
It's not about arming every airport. It's about giving the airports the right to clear the airspace around them. I think we should stop thinking about drones as something new. For instance, in the context of airport safety, rogue drones are simply flying nuisance objects. Do airports have to deal with these on a daily basis? Yes! The airports have to deal with birds! What do they do with birds? They trap them, shoot them, and often kill them (e.g. see http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2520695/airports_global_bird_slaughter_100000s_gassed_shot_poisoned.html http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2520695/airpo...) Arguably, if they have this right regarding wild geese, they should have the same right regarding drones (even more so: "killing" a drone does not pose a threat to the environment). So, to answer your question: people who hunt down birds around the airports will also hunt down drones, if given the right.
- dingaling 9y ago
  > It's about giving the airports the right to clear the airspace around them. Why should they have that right? Certainly they should do so over their own property, but if they want to extend that zone for commercial purposes ( i.e. permitting unhindered approach of aircraft so as to charge landing fees ) then the airport authorities should be required to buy land under the approaches, rather than just being able to declare a free-fire zone over other people's property.
microcolonel 9y ago
Ideally a contractor voluntarily employed by the airport, to improve their liability position. TSA (as Consultant32452 implied) would be a poor fit. Airports already employ people with dogs, traps, and shotguns to prevent birds from interfering with flights, could be a similar deal. Shotguns would probably be fine for most drones, and relatively safe to operate skyward (unlike most other projectile weapons).
- late2part 9y ago
  They don't need guns and dogs to fight birgs, they need more drones. And they can use those drones to fight the bad drones!
  - microcolonel 9y ago
    That seems like a very error-prone solution.

Consultant32452 9y ago

Obviously the folks who get to fondle your junk in the security line will take turns.

romwell 9y ago

It's not about arming every airport. It's about giving the airports the right to clear the airspace around them. I think we should stop thinking about drones as something new. For instance, in the context of airport safety, rogue drones are simply flying nuisance objects. Do airports have to deal with these on a daily basis? Yes! The airports have to deal with birds! What do they do with birds? They trap them, shoot them, and often kill them (e.g. see http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2520695/airports_global_bird_slaughter_100000s_gassed_shot_poisoned.html http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2520695/airpo...) Arguably, if they have this right regarding wild geese, they should have the same right regarding drones (even more so: "killing" a drone does not pose a threat to the environment). So, to answer your question: people who hunt down birds around the airports will also hunt down drones, if given the right.

dingaling 9y ago
> It's about giving the airports the right to clear the airspace around them. Why should they have that right? Certainly they should do so over their own property, but if they want to extend that zone for commercial purposes ( i.e. permitting unhindered approach of aircraft so as to charge landing fees ) then the airport authorities should be required to buy land under the approaches, rather than just being able to declare a free-fire zone over other people's property.

microcolonel 9y ago

Ideally a contractor voluntarily employed by the airport, to improve their liability position. TSA (as Consultant32452 implied) would be a poor fit. Airports already employ people with dogs, traps, and shotguns to prevent birds from interfering with flights, could be a similar deal. Shotguns would probably be fine for most drones, and relatively safe to operate skyward (unlike most other projectile weapons).

late2part 9y ago
They don't need guns and dogs to fight birgs, they need more drones. And they can use those drones to fight the bad drones!
- microcolonel 9y ago
  That seems like a very error-prone solution.