Drone view of the neighborhood from last weekend.

[CalG]

I know some people hate drones but they are just like anything else. Used properly they are a blast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g84b87G53k&feature=em-upload_owner

Why are they "Drones"? Not but a short time past "RC aircraft" would have described them perfectly.

Or are they now all autonomous and computer controlled? Some might be. Those would be the real high bucks versions.

 

[4570Man]

I seriously doubt the drone was 250 feet high. That would be a heck of a shot with a shotgun.

 

[kf4uda]

I seriously doubt the drone was 250 feet high. That would be a heck of a shot with a shotgun.

I agree,that would be an 83 yard shot up in the air. I don't believe that a 12 G 3-1\2" magnum with a turkey choke would make that shot.

 

[aczlan]

Why are they "Drones"? Not but a short time past "RC aircraft" would have described them perfectly.

Or are they now all autonomous and computer controlled? Some might be. Those would be the real high bucks versions.

The quadracopter versions are pretty much all computer controlled, you tell the drone where to go and it figures out the best way to do that.
Many of them will automatically take off and stabilize, then let you control them.

Aaron Z

 

[npalen]

I've been flying the Vision 2+ for a little over a year now and still amazed at the video and still photo capability. There is at least one phone/tablet App now available in which you bring up a Google map of the area of interest and then stretch a rectangle around the area you want to fly over and photograph. The App then communicates this info including desired altitude and ground speed to the quad-copter. Hitting the start button on the App screen initiates the flight including takeoff and landing.
The craft flies a grid pattern back and forth over the area you specified taking photographs at close intervals. Upon landing the craft downloads all the photos as well as the GPS coordinates of each photo to the phone/tablet.
This info is then downloaded to a PC where the software stitches all the photos into one and will create a 3D model of what was photographed. The wide angle lens of the camera captures height of objects to accomplish the 3D. This capability is used by the mining industry, for example, where the software calculates volume of stockpiles.

 

[LD1]

I seriously doubt the drone was 250 feet high. That would be a heck of a shot with a shotgun.

I agree,that would be an 83 yard shot up in the air. I don't believe that a 12 G 3-1\2" magnum with a turkey choke would make that shot.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[oldballs]

Some members have suggested a cure for stray dogs......."shoot, shovel and shut up". If it is low enough to bring down with a shotgun, it is too low.
The government and every other agency already has the right to snoop round, shoot pictures and invade ones privacy. So now every tom, dick and harry can legally do it......I don't think so.

Comparing military and emergency services is not the same issue.

Discharging firearms in most cities is illegal.

 

[jmc]

We used to have a fishing rule- if someone is water skiing within casting distance of you, they are fair game.

 

[npalen]

It would seem that a person with binoculars in an airplane wouldn't be a whole lot different than a drone with a camera. Or am I missing something?

 

[ovrszd]

Comparing military and emergency services is not the same issue.

I agree. My earlier comparison was off target.

But I also think there needs to be protection rules in place to protect one's privacy. And I'd think the first rule is a minimum height restriction over private property.

The camera part of it doesn't bother me at all. For example, in the recently replaced 2012 Google shot of my house I was walking across the yard carrying the weed eater. I have no issues with that.

On the other hand, a pesky, buzzing drone or whatever you want to call it, hovering within shotgun range of my backyard is wrong.

That's where the FAA or whomever is going to regulate these confrontations needs to get busy and establish guidelines. These guidelines can be used productively by the "pilot/owner" and by those on the ground.