Show HN: I built a DIY plane spotting system at home
pilane.obviy.us
Show HN: I built a DIY plane spotting system at home
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Re: Show HN: I built a DIY plane spotting system at home
#2Really cool. I've considered doing something similar for alerting me of things seen in the air but without a transponder turned on. Good tip about the birds, I wouldn't have anticipated that ha.
Aside, the way air travel still happens out in the open in terms of communications data has a real early Internet vibe to me.
Re: Show HN: I built a DIY plane spotting system at home
#3You can see from the photos how people might mistake planes for drones or UAP's.
Re: Show HN: I built a DIY plane spotting system at home
#4Related:
My toddler loves planes, so I built her a radar (November 2023) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38435908
My toddler still loves planes, so I upgraded her radar (January 2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39094288
Re: Show HN: I built a DIY plane spotting system at home
#5You can see from the photos how people might mistake planes for drones or UAP's.
Every single one of those pictures, even the blurry ones, even the ones taken at night, all look like airplanes.
People aren't getting airplanes confused with drones because they look the same. People are getting worked up about drones because of collective paranoia, and then they are seeing what they want to see.
Re: Show HN: I built a DIY plane spotting system at home
#6You can see from the photos how people might mistake planes for drones or UAP's.
Not criticizing you but it will never not be funny to me that crazy people have tried to legitimize seeing alien spaceships by renaming them from UFOs to UAPs. It’s like the conspiracy theorist version of unhoused.
Re: Show HN: I built a DIY plane spotting system at home
#7related: automated Las Vegas plane spotting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5PtT7KdlKc
this person has some sort of OpenCV setup from a high-rise view. (bonus: Air Force One is currently there)
Re: Show HN: I built a DIY plane spotting system at home
#8Related: My toddler loves planes, so I built her a radar (November 2023) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38435908 My toddler still loves planes, so I upgraded her radar (January 2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39094288
That was such a good read. Thank you for sharing.
Re: Show HN: I built a DIY plane spotting system at home
#9I recommend to not show dates as it can easily help triangulate your location of where this Pi is running, and with the internet crowd, doxxing yourself is never a good idea.
Re: Show HN: I built a DIY plane spotting system at home
#10You can see from the photos how people might mistake planes for drones or UAP's.
Not criticizing you but it will never not be funny to me that crazy people have tried to legitimize seeing alien spaceships by renaming them from UFOs to UAPs. It’s like the conspiracy theorist version of unhoused.
In fairness, I get what you’re saying, but I think there is some legitimacy to it.
First, I believe that this term has been introduced by the us government, so it’s not the crackpots laundering the conspiracy themselves by using a new term.
Second, I believe the reason UAP was introduced is to describe properly recorded and credibly witnessed and described phenomena (tic-tac, etc) that are not explained by any publically known craft, engineering, or science, but aren’t likely aliens either; and that is well described by UAP which doesn’t directly imply aliens that ufo does.