On a more serious note let us indeed remember the above, that was on the news and all here, the US government unashamedly interfered with ours (another sovereign nation) over the actions (quite legal , peaceful , and interesting/valid) of one man.
And they thought that was ok.
And that Bruce was "dangerous, irresponsible, and de-stabilising" if i remember the doco correctly. They're wrong, but they're also a big country with long arms and a major "nosy parker/nanny state/world police" type complex.
These days with the more common usage of FPV and autonomous flight/nav kit, i suppose its less likely someone would get hassled, but all it would take is an idiot to have an accident, or deliberately weaponise an r/c device, and that would be enough to get the whole thing canned.
As people interested in the hobby, for our own sake, we must figure out solutions to the potential issues involved before the government decides to. Personally i like the idea of self regulation/common sense, but in the real/practical world you have to factor in complete idiots (they are many).
Cant say i have a solution there, regulation wouldnt work/ would be hard to police.
Technology wise though hopefully the safety issues will be factored into more modern FPV, frequency hopping tech similar to what we use in 2.4Ghz transmitters for flight control might work, and having some sort of mechanical failsafe to land the craft in the event of camera/flight control failure (my design has a ballistic parachute type device) is a good idea even in smaller camera only designs.
All that being said, i've had a number of very enlightening conversations with a friend in the military, RE possible weapon isation/tactical use of the kind of technology we have access to (PURELY for intellectual interest i have absolutely no interest in bringing harm to others with my hobby).
Long and the short is, on a modern battlefield, anything we fly would be easy to kill, easy to detect, and even easier to locate pilot/launch point, among several other issues.
Yes you can put a bomb or other weapons payload in an R/C plane of sufficient size, but there are many easier, cheaper, more effective ways to deliver it.
Thus due to tactics and technology, our hobby presents no more threat than any other civillian tech.
That guy who thinks FPV should be banned on account of potential terrorist use, sounds like yet another silly yank jacked up on too much paranoia and self importance to me.
Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 3:01 am