Stupid Is What Stupid Does

[rydfree]

Somebody needs a safe place .

 

[BrooklynFlyer]

That drone pilot in AZ was caught (idiot posted pictures online) and arrested on 14 felony counts,Story Here

Somehow 14 counts became 2.

Arizona man charged after drone is flown over wildfire

 

[FatherXmas]

Having been a firefighter/paramedic for more years than some of you are old (retired now), I've been on a few major grass and forest fires alongside the U.S. Forestry Service. I for one would be very appreciative of anyone who facilitated getting a drone out of the air while our support aircraft were dropping water and retardant. If the our air support were terminated because of the drone which allowed the fire to spread and I didn't make it home alive, my wife would be seriously P.O.'d.

 

[STKNRUD]

Having been a firefighter/paramedic for more years than some of you are old (retired now), I've been on a few major grass and forest fires alongside the U.S. Forestry Service. I for one would be very appreciative of anyone who facilitated getting a drone out of the air while our support aircraft were dropping water and retardant. If the our air support were terminated because of the drone which allowed the fire to spread and I didn't make it home alive, my wife would be seriously P.O.'d.

I am glad she never had to get P.O.'d...at least for that reason. I was in Prescott when the 19 Granite Mountain Hot Shots broiled to death in their foil fire tents just a few miles from Prescott. Dangerous job. And Happy birthday. I got you beat by 7 seven years.

 

[dbyantis]

Many more cases like this and we'll have fire service aircraft equipped with air-to-air missiles!!!

I'm only half joking.....air defense missiles have been used on drones overseas to SPECTACULAR effect. (Even if it is a huge waste of a million+ dollar missile)

While at a local Firefighters hosted Fair, I asked one of the firemen if having some aerial footage would help with fire fighting. He explained that ladder and bucket trucks had adequate height and that if a fire fighter saw a drone they would probably blow it out of the sky with the firehose. Don't mess with their lives.

 

[erkme73]

My gut reaction to the grounding of support aircraft due to drone sightings would be... PROVE IT. I'm sure it can happen, and perhaps it has, but I think in about 90% of the "OMG A DRONE NEARLY HIT AN AIRCRAFT" reports, we find out later that it was a 'suspected' drone - or just a shopping bag. Remember:

That does not mean I don't value and support the heroic efforts of those involved in stopping fires - but I'm also not naive enough to think that the anti-drone hysteria doesn't affect the reporting of such events. Remember, .gov does not want citizens to have the eye-in-the-sky technology used against them. They have a vested interested in poisoning public opinion. And we know government is not one to let a good crisis go to waste.

 

[skunkman]

I have to admit, I fly in NFZs frequently. Mostly because I am at the edge of being within 5 miles of an airport.. If I didn't, I would hardly ever get to use my drone. In doing so, I always fly at the lowest safest altitude (rarely above 100 feet) and certainly nowhere near a flight pattern. I suppose my drone could malfunction and go AWOL and pose a risk but that seems unlikely. My flight patterns are almost always away from the NFZ and into fly zones. I really don't feel like a menace to society. Now flying in an area of a forest fire is definitely a different story.

 

[2nckayakers]

My gut reaction to the grounding of support aircraft due to drone sightings would be... PROVE IT. I'm sure it can happen, and perhaps it has, but I think in about 90% of the "OMG A DRONE NEARLY HIT AN AIRCRAFT" reports, we find out later that it was a 'suspected' drone - or just a shopping bag. Remember:

That does not mean I don't value and support the heroic efforts of those involved in stopping fires - but I'm also not naive enough to think that the anti-drone hysteria doesn't affect the reporting of such events. Remember, .gov does not want citizens to have the eye-in-the-sky technology used against them. They have a vested interested in poisoning public opinion. And we know government is not one to let a good crisis go to waste.

I agree, every single spec in the sky now is a Drone. It puts the spotlight on us but at least it takes it off of our Alien friends in their UFOs!