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Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

thedrive.com

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Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#51

Post by floatingatoll »

I'd like to call out the problem with these things. From the transcript:

> ATTEMPTED TO CAPTURE CAMERA FOOTAGE BUT UNABLE

I assume it's slightly harder than duct-taping a smartphone to a helicopter, but I'm still confused at how the military does not, by now, have high-fidelity panoramic video recordings figured out. They've had fifty years of UFOs nonsense and they still can't film the airspace around them in panoramic HD on command?

(Also, to whoever was torturing helicopter pilots by hovering above their rotors, that's just mean. Be nice. Yes, you're superior, but don't put their lives at risk to show it.)

EDIT: I read the article and somehow took away military, which is wrong. They're not military, so I can be a little more forgiving. But not much. Hit button to start recording video 60 seconds ago should be standard aviation equipment in the time of drones.

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#53

Post by thrill »

ghaff wrote: post #36
Ancapistani wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you're possibly violating airspace of people's property There is no such thing in the United States. All airspace is under federal jurisdiction, and the only agency with rule making authority is the FAA.

Clearly people have some rights to the space over their property. Case law isn't well established but, outside of airport landing rights, the consensus seems to be something like 400 feet which is in general uncontrolled airspace. https://aerocorner.com/blog/drone-over-private-property/ I probably won't shoot down a delivery drone though I may file a complaint. But if a drone starts poking around at low altitude over…

Anyone that starts taking potshots at drones over their property is risking federal charges for shooting at an aircraft.

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#54

Post by [deleted] »

floatingatoll wrote: post #51

I'd like to call out the problem with these things. From the transcript: > ATTEMPTED TO CAPTURE CAMERA FOOTAGE BUT UNABLE I assume it's slightly harder than duct-taping a smartphone to a helicopter, but I'm still confused at how the military does not, by now, have high-fidelity panoramic video recordings figured out. They've had fifty years of UFOs nonsense and they still can't film the airspace around them in panora…

[deleted]

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#55

Post by thrill »

holler wrote: post #28
awnird wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most likely explanation is that the chase never actually happened, and the police are making it up. We should be long past the point of uncritically believing everything police claim.

There were two helicopters involved, border patrol and tucson police. They also phoned into the FAA as it was going down. They also made visual contact with the light on the underside of the drone: "From what I can tell just from its position light, you know, I would have to imagine it was larger than a quadcopter"

Weird how the illegal drones always use their position lights.

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#56

Post by ALittleLight »

Taniwha wrote: post #30
iaw wrote: post #23

My guess would be a semi-autonomous military vehicle was being tested in the most real-world scenario possible. As others have said it likely had liquid fuel rather than battery reserves which would allow such operation.

Nah, probably just Jupiter and a a confused pilot

Jupiter is a flashing green light that can change elevation and circle?

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#57

Post by echelon »

sokoloff wrote: post #27
CamperBob2 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are crewed, or occasionally towed behind a normal boat. It should be relatively straightforward at this point to build a sub that can navigate entirely by itself.

GPS doesn’t work underwater. Almost all the drone tech navigates by GPS; converting over to an inertial nav system and making that reliable for autonomous underwater operation is a good bit more than “relatively straightforward” I think.

A waterproof mast could hold a GPS receiver above the water. Or the submersible could surface occasionally to sample its location and bearing.

If it kept to a low profile, it wouldn't even matter if it was slightly above water.

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