Recent content by hank970

I was hiking years ago with a friend in Colorado National Monument's No Thoroughfare Canyon. It was springtime, and there was a bit of meltwater running down the usually dry creek bed. In most places, the sandy bottom was firm, but there was quicksand in other spots. He stepped in a little...

Drone hyperbole. The drone didn't locate or save the man. It just captured some video of the rescue. The hiker triggered a satellite communicator, perhaps something like a Garmin inReach, to alert emergency personnel of his location and situation. Then the NPS and Grand County SAR responded.

China leads in drone production and in other fields of endeavor because it's pulled itself up by the bootstraps and resolved to become a highly evolved technological powerhouse. Meanwhile, thinking we were the only game in town, we rested on our laurels. Part of China's success, of course, is...

C'mon man, get a grip. You have it pretty darned good. Most of the really dreadful things going on in this country, like plucking some folks off the streets and spiriting them away to jails in foreign countries without the benefit of due process, or separating parents from their children, are...

I guess not. There's nothing on the FAA website (faa.gov) to suggest that all recreational drone flights are now prohibited within 5 NM of airports. In fact, the FAA website still outlines the procedure for obtaining LAANC authorization for such flights. And so, business as usual. The...

I haven't researched the matter extensively, but it seems that FAA regulations governing UAS haven't changed much, if any, in response to reported violations, and I hardly think that the existing restrictions and limitations in Part 107 are onerous. Local jurisdictions (like the famous...

My son, who lives in northeast Albuquerque, tells me that the FAA designates the Balloon Fiesta grounds as an airport for the duration of that city's Balloon Fiesta (hundreds of balloons extant for nine days in early October) with the customary restrictions in place for a radius of 5 nautical...

My tired old computer and monitor didn't do this video footage justice. Nice to see such a large tract of land that's apparently devoid of human influences.

Was he hovering or transiting? If the former, was he above the pavement or a wide median? Was there heavy traffic at the time of his flight or was the pavement largely devoid of moving vehicles?

Flying cars weren't a good idea back in the 1950s when Popular Mechanics (or whomever) predicted the advent of flying cars, and the idea hasn't improved with age. We should hope that such contrivances never become common. Try to imagine the skies over Los Angeles or any other major city if...

A state may legally prohibit launching, landing, and operating drones in its parks, but a state lacks the jurisdiction to regulate use of the nation's airspace above those parks. That's solely the FAA's responsibility. Thus, it should be permissible to fly over a state park if the drone is...

It's probably just as accurate as your local weather forecast, which may sometimes vary depending on which TV station you watch. Out here in the hinterlands of western Colorado, forecasted rains have a habit of never materializing.

Similarly, though it's perfectly legal to ride a bicycle on most public streets, it's probably not a good idea to take shortcuts across strangers' lawns or flower beds.

It's obvious that partisans of various stripes are going to have and promote favored short term interests. But I think that a stable democracy should also have some long term goals that people of every persuasion would agree with and aspire to regardless of their political leanings -- a strong...

The problem isn't that China thinks strategically, but that the United States doesn't. Decision makers in this country, even the old fossils who've been feeding for decades at the public trough, can't see beyond the next election.