6 ms·

It's tragic if it's true about the drone. It's my worst nightmare whenever I'm flying these days.

aaron695 4y ago
It doesn't look like a drone. Although possible, war planes should not be as affected by strikes. Why do you think it's a drone?
- leetrout 4y ago
  Vouched for your comment. It looks like you are shadowbanned. You might want to send an email to HN.
  - chrisbaker98 4y ago
    How can you tell that someone is shadowbanned?
    - leetrout 4y ago
      All their comments are dead
      - fsckboy 4y ago
        if part of the way the shadowban works is that the banee isn't alerted, why are you alerting them which works against "the system"?
        deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
        adwn 4y ago
        Because "the system" might have made a mistake. And even if the shadowban was warranted at some time, the poster might have improved their conduct in the meantime and should be given another chance. Usually, when I see a reasonable but dead comment, I vouch for it. If the commenter is shadowbanned and their other most recent comments are also reasonable and civil, I (sometimes) alert them to their status.
      - chrisbaker98 4y ago
        I don't get it. How do you know that GP is shadowbanned? The post looks just like a normal post to me; I'm not even sure what it means for it to be dead.
  - maxbond 4y ago
    Looking through their comments, it's pretty clear they know they're banned, why they're banned, spoke with dang about it at the time, and embraced being banned (I think because they feel it filters out low effort replies? Their statement was on the matter was terse, but semiparphrasing they said "I'm aiming for a shadowban" because "replies are the worst").
    - leetrout 4y ago
      Oh OK, I didnt look in detail.
- Alupis 4y ago
  > war planes should not be as affected by strikes. There is nothing special about a war plane that makes it less affected by strikes of any kind, be from birds or drones alike.
  - someweirdperson 4y ago
    A bullet-proof windshield protects the most vulnerable part (the pilot) a lot better than any civilian plane can.
    - Alupis 4y ago
      Most (practically all) aircraft do not have bullet-proof windshields (including military), for starters, and secondly a several pound meat ball travelling at closing speeds anywhere between 60kts (GA) to 200+ kts (jets/airliners/mil) is going to do a number on the aircraft regardless if it incapacitated the pilot. Doubly-so if it's a several pound metal ball... You don't want to hit anything in an aircraft, ever.
      - someweirdperson 4y ago
        > Most (practically all) aircraft do not have bullet-proof windshields (including military) The P-63 did (example picture [0]), like many others that were designed to attack bombers and/or ground targets. [0] https://www.flickr.com/photos/23057174@N02/3031666813 https://www.flickr.com/photos/23057174@N02/3031666813
        Alupis 4y ago
        The person in the picture is speculating it's a bullet proof windshield, and he's mistaken (particularly from the P-39 aircraft mentioned in the link). If you look at both a P-63 and P-39 you will not find any windshield or window that is even remotely shaped like what is held in the image. Regardless, modernly speaking, very few (if any) aircraft have bullet proof windshields. They are impractical for a number of reasons, including weight, size, thickness (distortion of picture), and efficacy. If a pilot is within small-arms distance they generally are already in trouble...
- maxbond 4y ago
  It looks like a small black spec a few hundred feet off the ground to me. Drone seems pretty likely. Perhaps it's junk that fell off another aircraft, it could be a satellite falling to Earth for all I know, but drone seems like the first hypothesis to rule out. Or that the footage is inauthentic I suppose.
  - maxbond 4y ago
    (My current understanding is now that the footage being inauthentic or misunderstood is the most likely.)
leetrout 4y ago
I am not sure which craft you are talking about flying. Hitting a drone is your worst nightmare while piloting small aircraft? Or hitting a plane is your worst nightmare when flying a drone?
- Alupis 4y ago
  > Hitting a drone is your worst nightmare while piloting small aircraft A small GA aircraft hitting a drone has a very high fatality chance, particularly in the stages of flight most likely to encounter amateur drone operators (ie. takeoff and landing).
  - thrill 4y ago
    No, it likely wouldn't have a large effect on the GA aircraft.
    - bobkazamakis 4y ago
      ? Either you don't know what GA aircraft entails, or you've got a real misconception of the size of a drone compared to a bird.
      - thrill 4y ago
        Well, I've hit birds with wingspans around a dozen feet (didn't go measure). They make a mess, and have killed people I knew, but that was mostly because of their size and the penetration of the windscreen. Hitting a smaller object could certainly cause some damage but it wouldn't likely be immediate and catastrophic unless it was in a critical spot.
        Alupis 4y ago
        > unless it was in a critical spot Which is where most strikes occur. Low speed (relative for an aircraft) and low altitude. A bird hitting the prop, sucked into an engine, tail strike, windscreen, etc... all can be devastating for any aircraft, be it GA or commercial. A drone strike isn't somehow going to be better for the aircraft...
PragmaticPulp 4y ago
> It's my worst nightmare whenever I'm flying these days. Maybe if someone is deliberately flying near an airport and moves into the exact right position at the right time without first being spotted But in practice, mainstream drones are GPS locked to not fly anywhere near airports and it's not really realistic to just accidentally get a drone too close to an airplane anywhere else. Also, the sky is a massive place and drones have limited flight time. I think the drone-airplane collision fears are greatly exaggerated outside of unique low-altitude specialty flying like airshows.
caconym_ 4y ago
> It's my worst nightmare whenever I'm flying these days. We've all got our irrational fears, but whether you're flying in a jumbo jet or a single-prop bug-smasher this one is very irrational indeed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unmanned_aerial_vehicles-related_incidents#Verified_aircraft_collisions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unmanned_aerial_vehicl...
NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
There's never been a verified fatality or even injury caused by a midair collision between a drone and a manned aircraft, as far as I know. You're way to more likely to be killed by a midair in the pattern at an uncontrolled field than anything drone related.

It doesn't look like a drone. Although possible, war planes should not be as affected by strikes. Why do you think it's a drone?

leetrout 4y ago
Vouched for your comment. It looks like you are shadowbanned. You might want to send an email to HN.
- chrisbaker98 4y ago
  How can you tell that someone is shadowbanned?
  - leetrout 4y ago
    All their comments are dead
    - fsckboy 4y ago
      if part of the way the shadowban works is that the banee isn't alerted, why are you alerting them which works against "the system"?
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - adwn 4y ago
        Because "the system" might have made a mistake. And even if the shadowban was warranted at some time, the poster might have improved their conduct in the meantime and should be given another chance. Usually, when I see a reasonable but dead comment, I vouch for it. If the commenter is shadowbanned and their other most recent comments are also reasonable and civil, I (sometimes) alert them to their status.
    - chrisbaker98 4y ago
      I don't get it. How do you know that GP is shadowbanned? The post looks just like a normal post to me; I'm not even sure what it means for it to be dead.
- maxbond 4y ago
  Looking through their comments, it's pretty clear they know they're banned, why they're banned, spoke with dang about it at the time, and embraced being banned (I think because they feel it filters out low effort replies? Their statement was on the matter was terse, but semiparphrasing they said "I'm aiming for a shadowban" because "replies are the worst").
  - leetrout 4y ago
    Oh OK, I didnt look in detail.
Alupis 4y ago
> war planes should not be as affected by strikes. There is nothing special about a war plane that makes it less affected by strikes of any kind, be from birds or drones alike.
- someweirdperson 4y ago
  A bullet-proof windshield protects the most vulnerable part (the pilot) a lot better than any civilian plane can.
  - Alupis 4y ago
    Most (practically all) aircraft do not have bullet-proof windshields (including military), for starters, and secondly a several pound meat ball travelling at closing speeds anywhere between 60kts (GA) to 200+ kts (jets/airliners/mil) is going to do a number on the aircraft regardless if it incapacitated the pilot. Doubly-so if it's a several pound metal ball... You don't want to hit anything in an aircraft, ever.
    - someweirdperson 4y ago
      > Most (practically all) aircraft do not have bullet-proof windshields (including military) The P-63 did (example picture [0]), like many others that were designed to attack bombers and/or ground targets. [0] https://www.flickr.com/photos/23057174@N02/3031666813 https://www.flickr.com/photos/23057174@N02/3031666813
      - Alupis 4y ago
        The person in the picture is speculating it's a bullet proof windshield, and he's mistaken (particularly from the P-39 aircraft mentioned in the link). If you look at both a P-63 and P-39 you will not find any windshield or window that is even remotely shaped like what is held in the image. Regardless, modernly speaking, very few (if any) aircraft have bullet proof windshields. They are impractical for a number of reasons, including weight, size, thickness (distortion of picture), and efficacy. If a pilot is within small-arms distance they generally are already in trouble...
maxbond 4y ago
It looks like a small black spec a few hundred feet off the ground to me. Drone seems pretty likely. Perhaps it's junk that fell off another aircraft, it could be a satellite falling to Earth for all I know, but drone seems like the first hypothesis to rule out. Or that the footage is inauthentic I suppose.
- maxbond 4y ago
  (My current understanding is now that the footage being inauthentic or misunderstood is the most likely.)

leetrout 4y ago

I am not sure which craft you are talking about flying. Hitting a drone is your worst nightmare while piloting small aircraft? Or hitting a plane is your worst nightmare when flying a drone?

Alupis 4y ago
> Hitting a drone is your worst nightmare while piloting small aircraft A small GA aircraft hitting a drone has a very high fatality chance, particularly in the stages of flight most likely to encounter amateur drone operators (ie. takeoff and landing).
- thrill 4y ago
  No, it likely wouldn't have a large effect on the GA aircraft.
  - bobkazamakis 4y ago
    ? Either you don't know what GA aircraft entails, or you've got a real misconception of the size of a drone compared to a bird.
    - thrill 4y ago
      Well, I've hit birds with wingspans around a dozen feet (didn't go measure). They make a mess, and have killed people I knew, but that was mostly because of their size and the penetration of the windscreen. Hitting a smaller object could certainly cause some damage but it wouldn't likely be immediate and catastrophic unless it was in a critical spot.
      - Alupis 4y ago
        > unless it was in a critical spot Which is where most strikes occur. Low speed (relative for an aircraft) and low altitude. A bird hitting the prop, sucked into an engine, tail strike, windscreen, etc... all can be devastating for any aircraft, be it GA or commercial. A drone strike isn't somehow going to be better for the aircraft...

PragmaticPulp 4y ago

> It's my worst nightmare whenever I'm flying these days. Maybe if someone is deliberately flying near an airport and moves into the exact right position at the right time without first being spotted But in practice, mainstream drones are GPS locked to not fly anywhere near airports and it's not really realistic to just accidentally get a drone too close to an airplane anywhere else. Also, the sky is a massive place and drones have limited flight time. I think the drone-airplane collision fears are greatly exaggerated outside of unique low-altitude specialty flying like airshows.

caconym_ 4y ago

> It's my worst nightmare whenever I'm flying these days. We've all got our irrational fears, but whether you're flying in a jumbo jet or a single-prop bug-smasher this one is very irrational indeed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unmanned_aerial_vehicles-related_incidents#Verified_aircraft_collisions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unmanned_aerial_vehicl...

NovemberWhiskey 4y ago

There's never been a verified fatality or even injury caused by a midair collision between a drone and a manned aircraft, as far as I know. You're way to more likely to be killed by a midair in the pattern at an uncontrolled field than anything drone related.