Pilot here. I just wanted to clarify something on the topic of drones since certain morons think that the future of flight is unmanned. It most certainly is not. This is why. Drones have very, very real limitations. - ThreadSky

saigashark.bsky.social • 45 days ago

Pilot here.

I just wanted to clarify something on the topic of drones since certain morons think that the future of flight is unmanned.

It most certainly is not. This is why. Drones have very, very real limitations.

Reposted from Scott Lowe

jesus christ www.latimes.com/california/s...

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saigashark.bsky.social•45 days ago

The first issue, and this is extremely important to all facets of flight, is the near total lack of situational awareness. I can turn my head if I need to look about in my helo. A drone's vision is limited to however fast the camera can pan. Odds are, this dumbass didn't even see what took him out.

saigashark.bsky.social•45 days ago

The second issue is economics, since drones are made to be expendable. Cramming increasingly expensive equipment into drones makes no sense when drones have an accident rate higher than jets did back in the 1950s. Considering, no one had a clue how to make a good turbine, back then, that's a lot.

saigashark.bsky.social•45 days ago

On top of that, you have to build extensive, expensive networks to maintain these aircraft in flight and make sure they stay on course. In the case of firefighting, this is infeasible as the situation changes minute by minute. The same could be said for combat.

saigashark.bsky.social•45 days ago

Third issue is vulnerability. As you're, obviously, transmitting over a wireless connection? You're now vulnerable to all sorts of fun electronic mischief. You don't even need to 'hack' a drone and take it over, you just need to jam up its reception enough so that it doesn't function as intended.

saigashark.bsky.social•45 days ago

We already have systems capable of this and have for years and years.

So, now you have a multimillion dollar flying machine that can be made to crater into a mountain (or worse), losing all that investment in one moment when the solution was put a person in it with a stick and throttle.

saigashark.bsky.social•45 days ago

Drones definitely have their place. Any mission that requires long loiter times aloft, a drone does perfectly. A lot of missions can fit under that umbrella, but the moment a mission becomes more dynamic, the shortcomings of drones become much more acute.

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