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The entire world is not quite ready for what these devices are and what they enable. It's not surprising at all. Also worth noting that the FAA has been tryin

The entire world is not quite ready for what these devices are and what they enable. It's not surprising at all. Also worth noting that the FAA has been trying to regulate these devices and that attempt failed in court. So right now the rules are incredibly lax, and most folks don't file flight plans because usually the folks at airports won't even talk to you when you try and call them about it (or so has been my experience). But it's disconcerting, because its just not that hard to imagine someone using these devices for all sorts of previously unimagined crimes.

deleted 9y ago
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evilDagmar 9y ago
This is in part due to the fact that many of these things are controlled over common Wifi and without modifying any of the equipment (in a manner that would violate FCC regulations) this sets a fairly low ceiling on how high they can go. Low enough that if an actual plane is flying that low, the aircraft's pilot is probably going to be in trouble with the FAA for barnstorming neighborhoods.
- KirinDave 9y ago
  Heh, having recently gotten into the homebrew drone scene, it's pretty clear to me that people are NOT listening to FAA regs, on the reg. But it's probably an incorrect assumption, as a drone can be autonomous. This means its flight time is much more a function of its power storage than its radio range. Racing drones can exceed 200km/h and can do that for about 7-10 minutes, while streaming 3d video back to a pilot who's piloting it in VR. I don't know of many practical systems for fully autonomous flight there (those things are way more rickety and weight limited than your typical quadcopter), but consider that a drone intent on causing damage at SFO could conceivably launch from _Palo Alto_ and make it there pretty damn fast, using sub $300 drone hardware and a spare smartphone.

deleted 9y ago

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evilDagmar 9y ago

This is in part due to the fact that many of these things are controlled over common Wifi and without modifying any of the equipment (in a manner that would violate FCC regulations) this sets a fairly low ceiling on how high they can go. Low enough that if an actual plane is flying that low, the aircraft's pilot is probably going to be in trouble with the FAA for barnstorming neighborhoods.

KirinDave 9y ago
Heh, having recently gotten into the homebrew drone scene, it's pretty clear to me that people are NOT listening to FAA regs, on the reg. But it's probably an incorrect assumption, as a drone can be autonomous. This means its flight time is much more a function of its power storage than its radio range. Racing drones can exceed 200km/h and can do that for about 7-10 minutes, while streaming 3d video back to a pilot who's piloting it in VR. I don't know of many practical systems for fully autonomous flight there (those things are way more rickety and weight limited than your typical quadcopter), but consider that a drone intent on causing damage at SFO could conceivably launch from _Palo Alto_ and make it there pretty damn fast, using sub $300 drone hardware and a spare smartphone.