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> I would have to imagine it was larger than a quadcopter, and I guarantee you it was nothing like a quadcopter from how long it was up - it has to be satellite

> I would have to imagine it was larger than a quadcopter, and I guarantee you it was nothing like a quadcopter from how long it was up - it has to be satellite-driven because there’s no line-of-sight, there’s no cell phone coverage that could have dealt with that, so it has to be satellite-driven, which is pretty freakin’ sophisticated.” So, setting aside this claim that there’s no line of sight, my bet is these guys have not kept up with what quadcopters and hexacopters can do: here’s one video from 6 days ago showing really unnatural acceleration, changing direction in ways that make you say “UFO” [0] - check out the other videos on the channel, there’s another one six months ago hitting 234mph [1] - granted these are LiPo with short dwell times but other larger heavier models can go 90 minutes… so somebody out there has something custom and is having fun freaking out cops and militaries. I’d say next time instead of trying to chase it they start sweeping for radio transmissions… if they’re not already programmed to autonomously play cat and mouse with police helicopters XD [0] https://youtu.be/f4kJud-ZS4s https://youtu.be/f4kJud-ZS4s [1] https://youtu.be/Sgum0ipwFa0 https://youtu.be/Sgum0ipwFa0

1-6 5y ago
“Are you afraid?” “Yes”
spoonjim 5y ago
Exactly. A high school bully in a Bell 206 is not a good authority on the capabilities of even amateur UAV hardware
- craftinator 5y ago
  I doubt they are good authorities in anything. I wish they'd leave the knowledge speak to those who spend their time gathering knowledge.
- AnimalMuppet 5y ago
  The person you dismiss as a "high school bully" is also a helicopter pilot. That may not make them an authority, but they have fair odds of being more knowledgeable than the average person...
cryptonector 5y ago
Why even use drug mules if you can just drone everything over the border?
- 411111111111111 5y ago
  Their carry weight is absolute shit and ferrying over 10 doses isn't really worthwhile
  - krisoft 5y ago
    There is this confusion over the word “drone”. What you say is absolutely true about quadrocopters and octocopters. It is much less true about fixed wing drones. You don’t have to go all the way to a Global Hawk to get reasonable carrying capacity. Even hobby sized stuff could be used for this reasonably well. Parts are easy to acquire, they are easy to conceal, you can launch them with a catapult like setup, they can drop off their load and fly back autonomously. I bet that it is already happening or at least there are smugglers experimenting with the tech.
    - squarefoot 5y ago
      > you can launch them with a catapult like setup, they can drop off their load and fly back autonomously. This had me thinking about homemade disposable rockets. Either use them for cargo, or attach one to a strong enough glider, so that it can reach the desired area, release the glider (that can use maps + GPS and sensors to land safely) then proceed for a while fooling whoever would follow its heat trail. Not that I wanted to become a drug smuggler, just brainstorming. We will need all that stuff when the next reptilian invasion occurs:^)
    - EmpirePhoenix 5y ago
      If your target country has a large coast, there are submarine drones already https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine
    - joshxyz 5y ago
ergot_vacation 5y ago
This is why I love HN. Between this and animat's post, I've got four amazing RC/quadcopter videos to watch that are a lot more worthwhile than Drive's 5000th "But what if UFOs were real tho?" article.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
nostrademons 5y ago
Saw some guys racing drones like the first video in a local park. Every bit as fast and maneuverable, but they had them going through 6 ft gates on a course roughly the size of a football field. I assume they're not really human-controlled because I could barely track where the drone was, let alone give it precise controls for how to pass through the gate. Went home and told my wife "If we ever get into a war, humanity is fucked."
- NegativeLatency 5y ago
  Usually they’re human controlled with an FPV camera setup. Lots of stuff on YouTube to check out related to it if you’re curious. The camera and live video feed to goggles greatly increases what you can do with the drone
  - jahnu 5y ago
    And they use analogue video signals to avoid encoding/decoding latency
    - snovv_crash 5y ago
      Not always, there are starting to be some good digital systems. Analogue is just cheaper and lighter.
      - 05 5y ago
        “Starting to”? DJI FPV is two years old and naked Vista is negligibly heavier than analog (and it mostly matters for micros, anyway)
        snovv_crash 5y ago
        Naked vista overheats, there's a reason it comes with heatsinks. There's also been severe availability issues with the DJI gear.
        5y ago
jonplackett 5y ago
Most impressed by the camera tracking. Is that automated or is someone that good at pointing a camera? (First link I mean)
- al3xandre 5y ago
  I think the video was accelerated (look at cars in the background or wind in trees/on grass or the occasional bird/insect). Which means the drone may not have been as fast/manœuvrerabke as it looks. It would explain the crazy Camera tracking skills.
  - 05 5y ago
    Definitely not accelerated, just ridiculous thrust to weight ratios on those mini quads. You can tell from the sound - the pitch corresponds to RPMs you would expect from those specs (which are listed in the description BTW)
- 05 5y ago
  Probably head attached GoPro
  - jonplackett 5y ago
    Good point! Still very stable. Good head control!
Gravityloss 5y ago
Also F3D pylon racing class https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4MJC7H7nzA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4MJC7H7nzA
Havoc 5y ago
>That's a full octave doppler-effect. Per youtube comments. Impressive!
- Jeff_Brown 5y ago
  Almost. It's a minor seventh.
joshxyz 5y ago
jesus fucking christ thats cool
parsimo2010 5y ago
Assuming that the story is true, the thing that rules out a traditional quadcopter is the fact that it was flying for an hour. You can make quads fast or long range/endurance, but AFAIK, nobody is even close to making a quad that can do 100mph for an hour. The battery weight for that kind of flight time would be too heavy for the quad to fly.
- Retric 5y ago
  You can use a gas engine to hit that kind of time in a quad. There aren’t any great options on the market right now, but as a DIY project it’s not that difficult to use an engine to charge the batteries in flight.
- lmilcin 5y ago
  I wouldn't say it is impossible. A (relatively) simple solution would be to use something with more dense power source, maybe fuel. RC enthusiast use fueled engines routinely, it isn't something special. There are various types of advanced fueled engines for RC use from traditional 2-4 stroke miniaturized engines to turbofans. They are not very common on small quadcopters because of lack of response. Quadcopters depend on an onboard controller for fast corrections and for this to work you need a motor that can react very fast and precisely. A liquid fuel engine in a craft that does frequent changes in direction of g forces is not an easy thing to control precisely. But this could be easily remedied by making this at least partly hybrid (use engine to charge small battery and use this to power additional motors to improve response to help stability and maneuvers).
  - parsimo2010 5y ago
    I never said it was impossible, but I did say that I "ruled out" a quad. I meant very unlikely, not that it was impossible. There are quads that have >1 hour endurance, and there are quads that can do 100 mph, but none that can do both, even with gas. To make a quad that can go 100 mph and stay in the air for an hour is a crazy big stretch of existing capabilities. I'd love to see an example, because none of these come close: https://blog.dronetrader.com/list-of-the-top-hybrid-gas-electric-drones-available-today/ https://blog.dronetrader.com/list-of-the-top-hybrid-gas-elec... There are also non-hybrid quads, but again, none of them can deliver the performance observed by these pilots: https://www.mydronelab.com/blog/gas-powered-quadcopter.html https://www.mydronelab.com/blog/gas-powered-quadcopter.html I said in another comment that my bet is on an RC plane. A fixed wing is much more likely to achieve that kind of speed with the endurance. Considering that the pilots didn't provide a good visual description I think it's the safest bet. I'm not going to worry about how it might be possible to make a quad that can do this when an obviously feasible solution is staring us in the face.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
mrfusion 5y ago
> it has to be satellite-driven because there’s no line-of-sight, there’s no cell phone coverage that could have dealt with that, so it has to be satellite-driven, which is pretty freakin’ sophisticated.” Don’t rule out autonomous.

1-6 5y ago

“Are you afraid?” “Yes”

spoonjim 5y ago

Exactly. A high school bully in a Bell 206 is not a good authority on the capabilities of even amateur UAV hardware

craftinator 5y ago
I doubt they are good authorities in anything. I wish they'd leave the knowledge speak to those who spend their time gathering knowledge.
AnimalMuppet 5y ago
The person you dismiss as a "high school bully" is also a helicopter pilot. That may not make them an authority, but they have fair odds of being more knowledgeable than the average person...

cryptonector 5y ago

Why even use drug mules if you can just drone everything over the border?

411111111111111 5y ago
Their carry weight is absolute shit and ferrying over 10 doses isn't really worthwhile
- krisoft 5y ago
  There is this confusion over the word “drone”. What you say is absolutely true about quadrocopters and octocopters. It is much less true about fixed wing drones. You don’t have to go all the way to a Global Hawk to get reasonable carrying capacity. Even hobby sized stuff could be used for this reasonably well. Parts are easy to acquire, they are easy to conceal, you can launch them with a catapult like setup, they can drop off their load and fly back autonomously. I bet that it is already happening or at least there are smugglers experimenting with the tech.
  - squarefoot 5y ago
    > you can launch them with a catapult like setup, they can drop off their load and fly back autonomously. This had me thinking about homemade disposable rockets. Either use them for cargo, or attach one to a strong enough glider, so that it can reach the desired area, release the glider (that can use maps + GPS and sensors to land safely) then proceed for a while fooling whoever would follow its heat trail. Not that I wanted to become a drug smuggler, just brainstorming. We will need all that stuff when the next reptilian invasion occurs:^)
  - EmpirePhoenix 5y ago
    If your target country has a large coast, there are submarine drones already https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine
  - joshxyz 5y ago

ergot_vacation 5y ago

This is why I love HN. Between this and animat's post, I've got four amazing RC/quadcopter videos to watch that are a lot more worthwhile than Drive's 5000th "But what if UFOs were real tho?" article.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

nostrademons 5y ago

Saw some guys racing drones like the first video in a local park. Every bit as fast and maneuverable, but they had them going through 6 ft gates on a course roughly the size of a football field. I assume they're not really human-controlled because I could barely track where the drone was, let alone give it precise controls for how to pass through the gate. Went home and told my wife "If we ever get into a war, humanity is fucked."

NegativeLatency 5y ago
Usually they’re human controlled with an FPV camera setup. Lots of stuff on YouTube to check out related to it if you’re curious. The camera and live video feed to goggles greatly increases what you can do with the drone
- jahnu 5y ago
  And they use analogue video signals to avoid encoding/decoding latency
  - snovv_crash 5y ago
    Not always, there are starting to be some good digital systems. Analogue is just cheaper and lighter.
    - 05 5y ago
      “Starting to”? DJI FPV is two years old and naked Vista is negligibly heavier than analog (and it mostly matters for micros, anyway)
      - snovv_crash 5y ago
        Naked vista overheats, there's a reason it comes with heatsinks. There's also been severe availability issues with the DJI gear.
      - 5y ago

jonplackett 5y ago

Most impressed by the camera tracking. Is that automated or is someone that good at pointing a camera? (First link I mean)

al3xandre 5y ago
I think the video was accelerated (look at cars in the background or wind in trees/on grass or the occasional bird/insect). Which means the drone may not have been as fast/manœuvrerabke as it looks. It would explain the crazy Camera tracking skills.
- 05 5y ago
  Definitely not accelerated, just ridiculous thrust to weight ratios on those mini quads. You can tell from the sound - the pitch corresponds to RPMs you would expect from those specs (which are listed in the description BTW)
05 5y ago
Probably head attached GoPro
- jonplackett 5y ago
  Good point! Still very stable. Good head control!

Gravityloss 5y ago

Also F3D pylon racing class https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4MJC7H7nzA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4MJC7H7nzA

Havoc 5y ago

>That's a full octave doppler-effect. Per youtube comments. Impressive!

Jeff_Brown 5y ago
Almost. It's a minor seventh.

joshxyz 5y ago

jesus fucking christ thats cool

parsimo2010 5y ago

Assuming that the story is true, the thing that rules out a traditional quadcopter is the fact that it was flying for an hour. You can make quads fast or long range/endurance, but AFAIK, nobody is even close to making a quad that can do 100mph for an hour. The battery weight for that kind of flight time would be too heavy for the quad to fly.

Retric 5y ago
You can use a gas engine to hit that kind of time in a quad. There aren’t any great options on the market right now, but as a DIY project it’s not that difficult to use an engine to charge the batteries in flight.
lmilcin 5y ago
I wouldn't say it is impossible. A (relatively) simple solution would be to use something with more dense power source, maybe fuel. RC enthusiast use fueled engines routinely, it isn't something special. There are various types of advanced fueled engines for RC use from traditional 2-4 stroke miniaturized engines to turbofans. They are not very common on small quadcopters because of lack of response. Quadcopters depend on an onboard controller for fast corrections and for this to work you need a motor that can react very fast and precisely. A liquid fuel engine in a craft that does frequent changes in direction of g forces is not an easy thing to control precisely. But this could be easily remedied by making this at least partly hybrid (use engine to charge small battery and use this to power additional motors to improve response to help stability and maneuvers).
- parsimo2010 5y ago
  I never said it was impossible, but I did say that I "ruled out" a quad. I meant very unlikely, not that it was impossible. There are quads that have >1 hour endurance, and there are quads that can do 100 mph, but none that can do both, even with gas. To make a quad that can go 100 mph and stay in the air for an hour is a crazy big stretch of existing capabilities. I'd love to see an example, because none of these come close: https://blog.dronetrader.com/list-of-the-top-hybrid-gas-electric-drones-available-today/ https://blog.dronetrader.com/list-of-the-top-hybrid-gas-elec... There are also non-hybrid quads, but again, none of them can deliver the performance observed by these pilots: https://www.mydronelab.com/blog/gas-powered-quadcopter.html https://www.mydronelab.com/blog/gas-powered-quadcopter.html I said in another comment that my bet is on an RC plane. A fixed wing is much more likely to achieve that kind of speed with the endurance. Considering that the pilots didn't provide a good visual description I think it's the safest bet. I'm not going to worry about how it might be possible to make a quad that can do this when an obviously feasible solution is staring us in the face.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

mrfusion 5y ago

> it has to be satellite-driven because there’s no line-of-sight, there’s no cell phone coverage that could have dealt with that, so it has to be satellite-driven, which is pretty freakin’ sophisticated.” Don’t rule out autonomous.