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General control line discussion => Open Forum => Topic started by: Gerald Arana on December 20, 2015, 05:08:07 PM
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AIRPLANES HIT MORE TURTLES THAN DRONES
AS OF PRESS TIME, NO FAA CALLS FOR A TURTLE REGISTRY
By Kelsey D. Atherton Posted December 17, 2015
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On Monday, citing a congressional mandate and reports of drones near airplanes, the FAA announced that any unmanned flying vehicle heavier than half a pound would have to be registered with the government by February 19th, 2016. This is a huge change for the hobby, and one the FAA says it’s implementing out of an overriding concern with safety. There’s just one catch: if the FAA really wanted to protect planes from small, autonomous, unmanned objects — they’d ban turtles first.
At least, that’s the argument of Eli Dourado, an economist and technologist at the libertarian Mercatus Center. Using data pulled from the FAA’s own database of wildlife strikes, he created the chart above and posted it on Twitter earlier today. Since 1990, the FAA recorded 198 airplane-and-turtle collisions, and exactly zero drone-and-airplane collisions. Even when the FAA warned about an increase in drone and airplane “encounters” earlier this year, the encounters were limited to drone sightings, not actual collisions.
“To investigate the risk that small drones pose to the airspace,” Dourado said over email, “my collaborator Sam Hammond and I downloaded the full dataset to run some analysis on it. We found not only reports of bird strikes, but strikes of all kinds of mammals and reptiles as well. We thought this evidence was very revealing—planes hit objects all the time. Meanwhile, there still have been no confirmed collisions with drones in the United States.
So why turtles? “I picked turtles because turtles are funny,” Dourado said, “You don’t think of turtles as posing much of a threat to planes, and they don’t. If we’ve hit turtles 198 times and drones 0 times, then maybe we are worrying too much about collisions with drones.”
Earlier studies have shown that drones under three pounds show no more risk to airplanes than small birds, especially if flown below 400 feet and more than 5 miles away from airports, as the law already requires. Registering drones smaller than that means flying toys are now more controlled than ducks, but no deadlier.
This fits into a larger portrait of how bad people are at assessing risk, whether that of plane crashes, cyberterrorist attacks, or even the liklihood of rain. Drones are new and easy to fear, while turtles are ancient and an accepted part of life. If a turtle on a runway isn’t that scary, maybe a drone flown five miles away from an airport shouldn’t be, either.
How funny is that? ~^
Jerry
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Jerry, if you're going to the trouble of copying it, could you give us an attribution and a link, too?
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Tim, It really isn't that much trouble. Do you mean;
http://wildlife.faa.gov. ? Cause that's all I have. ???
Jerry
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If indeed your report is accurate as stated, why didn't the bright boys of AMA use it to help aqnd protect the drones that they promote so much. Sorry no love for the AMA anymore. I see clubs making rules to comply with FAA and modelers no longer belonging to clubs. Used to be years ago small groups of flyers getting together at small fields, schools, even off the beach. Sport fliers really don't have to comply unless they stay at clubs or contests. Only problem use to be flying to close to each other on same frequency, not an issue any more.
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Tim, It really isn't that much trouble. Do you mean;
http://wildlife.faa.gov. ? Cause that's all I have. ???
Jerry
Clearly you cut and pasted the article from someplace, and clearly it has an author -- so, where and who? If it came to your email anonymously, then say so -- but figure that it'll cut down on the credibility considerably (I notice that the 183 number is correct, however).
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It is in Popular Science: http://www.popsci.com/airplanes-hit-more-turtles-than-drones
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Clearly you cut and pasted the article from someplace, and clearly it has an author -- so, where and who? If it came to your email anonymously, then say so -- but figure that it'll cut down on the credibility considerably (I notice that the 183 number is correct, however).
Lots of stuff is posted here with reference to the author. So why are you know picking on by life long pal, Jerry Arana? Lighten up a little. Roy DeCamara
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Lots of stuff is posted here with reference to the author. So why are you know picking on by life long pal, Jerry Arana? Lighten up a little. Roy DeCamara
Sorry if my wording is harsh -- I want to read article in it's original home, and maybe do some link-chasing. It sounds like a compelling argument to use on all the drone-bashers.
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I want to know what were the turtles doing at the flying field? Did they have their AMA licence on their shell or not!!
If they don't know how to launch planes properly, they have no business being there. Lastly, I don't like the idea of turtles messing around with nitro!!
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I've yet to see a turtle @ 2500 feet.
Driving on FL 528 into Cape Canaveral we had to dodge quite a few turtles crossing the roadway. I never heard if they caused any problems for NASA.
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A message came into Boeing Service Engineering titled "Fish Strike". A 737 took off from an airport in Alaska and frightened an eagle which was carrying a fish. The eagle dropped the fish, which struck the plane just above the pilots' window.
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A message came into Boeing Service Engineering titled "Fish Strike". A 737 took off from an airport in Alaska and frightened an eagle which was carrying a fish. The eagle dropped the fish, which struck the plane just above the pilots' window.
Now THAT... is classic!
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A message came into Boeing Service Engineering titled "Fish Strike". A 737 took off from an airport in Alaska and frightened an eagle which was carrying a fish. The eagle dropped the fish, which struck the plane just above the pilots' window.
See?! Just about anything is possible! LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~
Jerry
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I have to note...
Been on this web site for a few years now
Howard Rush as the most "Made me belly laugh" posts of any here
jest sayin
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I have to note...
Been on this web site for a few years now
Howard Rush as the most "Made me belly laugh" posts of any here
jest sayin
My favorite Mr Rush quote was on that "how many people are flying electric" post. He said, "that Bob's your uncle is a rascal" i still laugh about that one. Should be quote of the year