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posted by Fnord666 on Monday March 02 2020, @05:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the droned-out-for-a-second dept.

New FAA drone rule is a giant middle finger to aviation hobbyists:

More than 34,000 people have deluged the Federal Aviation Administration with comments over a proposed regulation that would require almost every drone in the sky to broadcast its location over the Internet at all times. The comments are overwhelmingly negative, with thousands of hobbyists warning that the rules would impose huge new costs on those who simply wanted to continue flying model airplanes, home-built drones, or other personally owned devices.

"These regulations could kill a hobby I love," wrote Virginian Irby Allen Jr. in a comment last week. "RC aviation has brought my family together and if these regulations are enacted we will no longer be able to fly nor be able to afford the hobby."

The new regulations probably wouldn't kill the hobby of flying radio-controlled airplanes outright, but it could do a lot of damage. Owners of existing drones and model airplanes would face new restrictions on when and where they could be used. The regulations could effectively destroy the market for kit aircraft and custom-designed drones by shifting large financial and paperwork burdens on the shoulders of consumers.

"I think it's going to be harmful to the community and harmful to the growth of the UAS industry," said Greg Reverdiau, co-founder of the Pilot Institute, in a Friday phone interview. He wrote a point-by-point critique of the FAA proposal that has circulated widely among aviation hobbyists.

The new rules are largely designed to address safety and security concerns raised by law enforcement agencies. They worry that drones flying too close to an airport could disrupt operations or even cause a crash. They also worry about terrorists using drones to deliver payloads to heavily populated areas.

To address these concerns, the new FAA rule would require all new drones weighing more than 0.55 pounds to connect over the Internet to one of several location-tracking databases (still to be developed by private vendors) and provide real-time updates on their location. That would enable the FAA or law enforcement agencies to see, at a glance, which registered drones are in any particular area.

But critics say the rules impose massive costs on thousands of law-abiding Americans who have been quietly flying model airplanes, quad-copters, and other small unmanned aircraft for years—and in many cases decades.


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday March 02 2020, @06:07PM (12 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday March 02 2020, @06:07PM (#965575)

    Terror drones have been a possibility since the inception of the remote controlled ANYTHING hobby. Even 50+ years ago, a simple low cost RC vehicle _could have been used_ to deliver whatever explosives or other nasty payload ANYBODY wanted with it. Ranges have increased, autonomy with GPS navigation has increased, basically: if you can get your hands of high explosives, anybody can make a terror drone out of off-the-shelf hardware in an afternoon.

    These rules, if enacted, will do several things:

    1) reduce the number of hobby drones in the sky, reducing the workload for domestic "security" agencies (DSAs) in vetting them
    2) provide a semblance of friend/foe identification, if the hobbyist's tracking ID isn't working properly then the DSA has probable cause to blow it out of the sky
    3) crush the life and soul out of a legitimate STEM hobby and significantly reduce the number of US students who develop these skills (while other countries like Iran actively encourage said skills development)

    Fear and insecurity will make us weak. Long before drones need tracking handguns, assault rifles, hunting weapons (including crossbows), and recreational fireworks need similar tracking systems, for our collective safety. /s

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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 02 2020, @06:29PM (8 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 02 2020, @06:29PM (#965587) Journal

    I wish I had mod points to give.

    Remote RC cars, as you point out, could be used to deliver nasty payloads.

    New technology on the horizon could be self-driving self-navigating RC cars. Just drive by, stop, open your door, put RC car on the pavement, and drive away. Just as drones, I'm sure that terrorist RC cars will comply with all new laws just as terrorist drones would.

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    • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday March 02 2020, @06:45PM (3 children)

      by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday March 02 2020, @06:45PM (#965601) Journal

      Someone's been watching old Tom Selleck movies [wikipedia.org]!!!! :P :D

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      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 02 2020, @07:28PM (2 children)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 02 2020, @07:28PM (#965622) Journal

        I don't recall having seen this movie. But if I did, it sounds pretty easily forgettable.

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        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday March 02 2020, @07:53PM

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday March 02 2020, @07:53PM (#965640)

          It had Gene Simmons in it. I am going to assume it was just awful.

        • (Score: 2) by choose another one on Tuesday March 03 2020, @10:56AM

          by choose another one (515) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 03 2020, @10:56AM (#965932)

          Not sure it was so easily forgettable, because I recalled the same movie (well, probably the same scene) in response to your comment (basically - "seen that in a movie back in the 80s).

          Couldn't have given you the title of the movie, or named the actors, nor can I give you a single line of dialogue, or plot (other than good guys vs. bad guy) but the _tech_, that was memorable:

          * the almost ludicrously large tracking bullets that locked onto your "unique" heat signature and followed you round corners etc. before blowing a large hole in you
          * the fact that they were _slow_ (for bullets), no need for bullet time (hadn't been invented yet :-), plenty of time to run away, dramatically, but the bullet always found you...
          * the dinky little bomb cars that drove themselves between the wheels of other cars before blowing up under the target (that's the scene)
          * acid injecting robo-spiders, nuff said

          All the tech (I think) was autonomous fire-and-forget, the bad guy forgot this and got killed by his own creations as a result

          That is about _all_ I remember of the film, but that has all stuck after 30+ yrs.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @07:17PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @07:17PM (#965619)

      My favorite GTA missions!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @08:16PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @08:16PM (#965656)

      How much damage could a fleet of full size self-driving cars/trucks loaded with explosives do to some target?

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 02 2020, @09:33PM (1 child)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 02 2020, @09:33PM (#965693) Journal

        A secure popsicle factory installation might have pop up Bollards [wikipedia.org] to block large vehicles.

        But a small RC vehicle might get through. Maybe even unnoticed. Or not noticed soon enough.

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        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 03 2020, @12:38AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 03 2020, @12:38AM (#965764)

          Bollards might not survive the first wave of the attack.

  • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday March 03 2020, @06:16AM (2 children)

    by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 03 2020, @06:16AM (#965884) Journal

    Isis has used RC aircraft as ordnance-bearing drones to some degree of success. The videos tend to disappear offline pretty quickly (It's terrorist propaganda, obvs.) but I have a small cache of it. They drop mortar shells or IEDs from a fixed wing or multirotor with FPV capabilities.

    • (Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday March 03 2020, @07:54AM

      by Bot (3902) on Tuesday March 03 2020, @07:54AM (#965901) Journal

      They are sacrificing MY KIND?!?
      Now it's personal.

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    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 03 2020, @10:53AM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday March 03 2020, @10:53AM (#965931)

      Was only a matter of time. In or around 2010 the UAV company I worked for did a test (sponsored by the US army) of hand-grenade delivery with their fixed wing 1kg drone. End result: first try on a pickup truck as the target resulted in a "vehicle kill" both simulated occupants received highly lethal injuries and the engine block of the truck was damaged beyond repair. This from a UAV designed for surveillance carrying a grenade smaller than your fist.

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