Reythia
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Registered: 11-2005
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UAVs in populated areas
I just had an interesting thought sent my way by a colleague. Roberto used to work as an Army scientist and has had a flight license for ages. The topic that prompted the thought was this:
Earth Science via Military Hawks
Basically, it suggests letting science centers do airborne research using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Now, Roberto works on airborne LIDAR missions -- mapping the Earth from a plane using lasers. His comment was:
quote:
"Global Hawk looks cool, but problem is getting the FAA to allow UAVs to share airspace with general and commercial aviation.
Homeland Security is flying a UAV along US-Mex border in Arizona, but FAA has created a TFR (temporary flight restricted area) to keep other aircraft out of the area. Some police departments want to fly UAVs for surveillance, but FAA has said,'no'. Currently FAA does not allow UAVs to fly over urban areas.
Pilots have to see and be seen, and talk to each other to avoid problems"
Okay, that makes sense. If there are a lot of pirvately-owned and commercial planes flying around, you really don't want to have stealthy little UAVs zipping all over the place. Eventually there's going to be an accident.
And then I thought, "Hey... Why don't they have accidents from things like this in scifi books ever?" I mean, whether its aircraft or spacecraft, if there are a lot of things zipping around near each other, at some point something's going to accidentally collide. Yet you don't hear anything about an FAA making rules for safe air/space travel.
I know, I know. Going over FAA guidelines does NOT make for an intereting page-turner. I agree. But I think that I, at least, will keep it in mind as part of the setting when I write my next realistic scifi piece involving aircraft.
---  -- YAR! |
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5/16/2008, 9:47 pm
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David Meadows
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Re: UAVs in populated areas
Tom Ligon wrote a brilliant novelette called Amateurs a few years ago, about a bunch of engineers building their own SSTO lifting body.
The whole story is one mass of engineering jargon as they work out all the construction problems they encounter. (Nothing happens in the story, it's just engineers talking. Probably the sort of thing that only appeals to Analog subscribers.)
One section reads:
quote:
Then the problems started. No way was the FAA going to let us test a rocket plane. NASA just laughed and handed us a bunch of test requirements that would have cost a hundred million dollars to comply with. ... We looked into moving to another country but the cost was out of our reach.
After much frustration:
quote:
Jake led me to the crew hatch, above which was stencilled "EXPERIMENTAL SPACE ROCKET - DANGEROPUS AS HELL." The aircraft dataplate from the Learjet was attached to the frame.
"You've heard of outfits that build an airplane around a dataplate? That's basically what we've done. That's the tail number of the original Lear."
I shook my head. "That can't be legal."
Jake grinned. "Sure cuts down questions when you file a flight plan, though."
Then the conversation with the air traffic controller during the test flight:
quote:
"Lear 4 Papa Whiskey, radar contact over Loomis ,approved on course as filed. Clear above, climb to flight level 600 at your discretion. Flight level 600??! Uh, what model of Lear is that?"
"I'd like to climb pretty quick. You sure it's clear above us?"
"Four Papa Whiskey, Centre," the controller answered testily, "nobody above you for two hundred miles in any direction. You could take off straight up if you wanted."
"Straight up? That sounds like fun. Think I will."
At that point, Gore opened the throttle and showed the controller just how special his little business jet was. Dervish pitched up and accelerated for the sky like, well, a rocket. In eighty seconds, it had passed its assigned altitude.
"Centre, orbital rocket 214 Papa Whiskey is now clear of your airspace. Maybe you could call NORAD and and let then know a crazy bunch of amateur rocket scientists has just launched a manned flight southwest from the Pacific Northwest for a retrograde orbit. I'll give Hawaii a buzz in about sixteen minutes and be back with you in about an hour and a half."
I will not print the controller's reply, in the interests of his continued employment.
Well, anyway, you get the point. If you want to write real-world "hard" SF, you need to know more about the real world than you do about science fiction! I would love to write like that but I just don't have the knowledge. Ligon is an aerospace consultant and can get away with it. If you try to bluff it, the educated layman (i.e. most SF readers) will probably sniff it out pretty quickly and you lose their trust in the story.
---
"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed."
G.K.Chesterton
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5/17/2008, 11:09 am
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Reythia
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Re: UAVs in populated areas
I have GOT to find this story! I need to read it and then show it to all my friends at work. That's just awesome!
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5/17/2008, 7:38 pm
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QS2
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Re: UAVs in populated areas
That does sound pretty amusing, yeah. 
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5/19/2008, 11:09 am
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Blitzen
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Registered: 12-2004
Location: falkirk
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Re: UAVs in populated areas
I thought the FAA was maybe harder than whatever we have in Britain because I read a few years ago about how Manchester Police had a UAV with CCTV.
I googled it and found nothing on Manchester, but I did find this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5051142.stm
My computer won't let me make that clicky.
I think the UAVs fly under the height of aeroplanes and that. Maybe.
Made the link clickable.
Last edited by Firlefanz, 6/3/2008, 7:45 pm
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6/3/2008, 7:36 pm
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