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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

#221

Post by jjoonathan »

weystrom wrote: post #207
telside wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fly FPV drones. The idea they are not human controlled is absurd. They handle like nothing else. There is literally nothing else to compare them to so they seem almost alien. You could dive bomb a gate yourself after maybe 10 hours of practice in a simulator. Of course the first time you try you won't even be able to keep the drone in the air but really quickly the controls become second nature. The irony is the gu…

I fly FPV drones too and the batteries suck and this thing seemed to have 40+ minutes of flight time. Even top of the DJI drones (which are not exactly freestyle/racy) would top out at around 30 minutes. Not implying aliens, but I wish we had that kind of battery technology in my Nazgul5, if it's a drone they've seen.

Hydrocarbons have 100 times the energy density. We have the technology.

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

#222

Post by mkl »

leephillips wrote: post #78
manwe150 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought (more relevantly) there were also laws about shooting without a backdrop to catch stray bullets, since this sounds like a densely populated area, also perhaps shooting towards people: bullets that go up, come down again somewhere else at nearly the same speed.

No, they come down at their terminal velocity, which is far slower. Could give you a bump on the head, though.

If they go straight up they come down at terminal velocity, but if they go up on a shallower angle they maintain a lot of speed. Mythbusters: https://mythresults.com/episode50

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

#223

Post by [deleted] »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #87

> I would have to imagine it was larger than a quadcopter, and I guarantee you it was nothing like a quadcopter from how long it was up - it has to be satellite-driven because there’s no line-of-sight, there’s no cell phone coverage that could have dealt with that, so it has to be satellite-driven, which is pretty freakin’ sophisticated.” So, setting aside this claim that there’s no line of sight, my bet is these guy…

[deleted]

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

#224

Post by dylan604 »

05 wrote: post #153
snovv_crash wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not always, there are starting to be some good digital systems. Analogue is just cheaper and lighter.

“Starting to”? DJI FPV is two years old and naked Vista is negligibly heavier than analog (and it mostly matters for micros, anyway)

Yes, something only available for two years qualifies as starting to. In the realm of transmitting video 2 years is definitely early stages.

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

#226

Post by prawn »

kortilla wrote: post #199
prawn wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't underestimate it, but if I wanted to play around with an expensive drone I could afford to lose, it would be during the day when I could see what I was doing or in a more interesting place. Dangerously flying a large/experimental drone near an air force base goes from "lose my $10k drone" to incurring the wrath of serious entities. Take down a chopper and if it's traced back to you, you're in some sort of tro…

Yes, the cartel is very concerned about following laws and wouldn’t want to risk anything like upsetting the police to test a thing that might be specifically designed to avoid them.

Not sure the cartel would be testing in the US with a drone that has its lights on and is capable of novel flight movements, and hang around circling police helicopters, rather than just pick a place away from an airforce base and prioritise carrying a load without notice. I could see speed being an advantage, but not aerobatics.

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

#227

Post by Jeff_Brown »

AniseAbyss wrote: post #171
cryptonector wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why even use drug mules if you can just drone everything over the border?

Because humans are cheaper than a drone. Hell I live in a Western country and people are getting assassinated for just 10000 euro. Plenty of desperate losers out there to exploit for crime cartels.

God. Which country?

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

#228

Post by jpace121 »

petee wrote: post #212
touisteur wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, primary radars designed for 0.5m² radar cross section aren't going to see these things. Especially if they're 3d-maneuvering like mad. You need very different radars for drone tracking and I'm not sure the US's radar infra has caught up. Even less on civilian surveillance mission's.

Perhaps not civilian, but that floating radar the Air Force has can see a softball across the country, I have trouble believing that there isn't an installation within range that wasn't able to track it - leads me to think if the military can track it, but the police weren't given help, then its likely a military craft.

More likely no one on the Air Force side that was involved actually had access to that.

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

#229

Post by Jeff_Brown »

Havoc wrote: post #172
jazzyjackson wrote: post #87

> I would have to imagine it was larger than a quadcopter, and I guarantee you it was nothing like a quadcopter from how long it was up - it has to be satellite-driven because there’s no line-of-sight, there’s no cell phone coverage that could have dealt with that, so it has to be satellite-driven, which is pretty freakin’ sophisticated.” So, setting aside this claim that there’s no line of sight, my bet is these guy…

>That's a full octave doppler-effect. Per youtube comments. Impressive!

Almost. It's a minor seventh.

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

#230

Post by foxfluff »

prawn wrote: post #138
Implicated wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't underestimate the scale of wealth, $10k for a few moments of joy/adrenaline is far from unheard of for those with the means. If you have others, or can reproduce that piece of equipment with mere currency and you're sitting on a mountain of it.. why not?

I don't underestimate it, but if I wanted to play around with an expensive drone I could afford to lose, it would be during the day when I could see what I was doing or in a more interesting place. Dangerously flying a large/experimental drone near an air force base goes from "lose my $10k drone" to incurring the wrath of serious entities. Take down a chopper and if it's traced back to you, you're in some sort of tro…

Flying a work gadget sounds way more likely a way to get yourself caught. And lose your job. No, I'd rather risk a $10k toy than risk getting fired.

All kinds of exciting things can get people into serious trouble but they still do it. For example, drifting and street racing expensive cars at night. Some even taunt the police. Here's a good series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clf-KhniImw

In my mind flying a remote controlled drone over an air base seems way less risky than hitting the streets in a car.

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