11–20 of 109 posts
What’s worse - sucking in a bird into a jet engine or a bird-scaring drone?
>> The passengers on Flight 1549 were only saved because the pilots were so skilled. Of course the engineering and planning that went into the aircraft's construction had nothing to do with it, nor did the countless government regulations dictating safety equipment and training. These sorts of "miracles" happen rather regularly. A plane crashes near a runway totaling the aircraft, but everyone walks away. Piloting is…
Human interaction ends up being the wildcard
I suspect the birds would eventually ignore the drones unless the drones are made to pose an actual physical threat to them. City pigeons are so accustomed to cars and humans that they barely move out of the way in time to avoid being crushed.
The drones would chase the birds away. And in cases when the birds are to be sucked by a jet's engine the autonomous drone would follow suit
Chasing requires fleeing. If the bird knows from experience that the drone won't hurt him, then why would he flee from it?
However, I doubt this would stop another near-disaster like Cactus 1549. They hit geese on climbout at nearly 3000 feet [0]. Thats pretty far outside of what a drone can enforce, or where I'd be comfortable having a drone flying. Current regulations prohibit them flying over 400 ft AGL, except within tight proximity to structures like radio towers.
For background, I'm a private pilot, not an airline guy.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549#Takeoff...
I suspect the birds would eventually ignore the drones unless the drones are made to pose an actual physical threat to them. City pigeons are so accustomed to cars and humans that they barely move out of the way in time to avoid being crushed.
What’s worse - sucking in a bird into a jet engine or a bird-scaring drone?
The bird scaring drone can be programed to stay clear of planes. The birds can't
Airplanes are huge chunks of metal that make a deafening roar. Grown men are rightly afraid of coming near one.
I don't think pilots would be entirely opposed to this kind of tech. While I don't think many pilots trust drone operators to be responsible in any way (I don't, since I don't think many of them know the airspace system or where their nearby airports are), they might be okay with unmanned aerial systems operated by the local airport authority, since they could likely geofence them in such a manner that they'd never c…
As a society we've been pretty cavalier about algorithmic control. Which can work well for a lot of things. But probably shouldn't be trusted (without a TON of validation and regulation, as we've done over decades with airliners) with controlling stuff that can injure people or damage societies.