Stop calling them "drones"

[PeaB4YouGo]

"Drone" crashes at White House

I wish the media would stop calling these things "drones". Call them what they are; RC quad-copters, RC planes, TOYS!...

For my entire life, the word drone meant something that worked (semi-)autonomously, blindly and with little or no guidance. You can have a vacuum, or you can have a drone (Roomba).

The word "drone" has been incorporated into the modern lexicon in such a way as to make you believe that these toys are evil things that drop bombs and cause all sorts of chaos. And, the term "unmanned aerial drones" is just redundant. Of course, they're unmanned. Otherwise they'd be....airplanes and helicopters!! Ever hear of a manned drone? And, truthfully, I always considered platforms like the Predator and the Reaper nothing more than the ultimate in RC flying!

I'm sorry. Maybe I'm just too sensitive, but I think this is just one more tactic to discourage the RC flight hobby. Already, we have more rules governing RC flight than there are for some more dangerous pursuits. Okay, maybe there are a few of those rules that NEED to be in place, but would you rather have your kid playing with his SkyHog racers, or would you have him "...menacing the skies with his barely-controlled drone." (an actual quote from the local newspaper some months back after some kid buzzed the county fair.)

How long before the media associates "drone" with RC cars? How long before The Google Driverless Car becomes another drone? (Probably the first time someone loads it with C4 and programs it to crash into the White House. Who needs 72 Virgins? I'll take 5 women who know what they're doing, please. Oh shit....here comes the Secret Service.)


Thoughts?

 

[Golden]

I fancy getting one of those drones...looks like good fun.

 

[essenbe]

The military "Drones" who do kill people have a person on the other end flying them too. Same thing, only one has hell fire missiles and the other doesn't. They are both air planes controlled by someone not on board.

 

[Golden]

I read somewhere that EBay delivery by drone isn't too far into the distant future. How cool would that be!

 

[ThrashZone]

I believe they already do have drone drop off
UPS drop at your door step and run delivery practice

 

[A Guy]

I thought drones were honey bees?

A Guy

 

[Golden]

Im going to look at some drones this weekend and see what its all about.

 

[A Guy]

I have a friend who has a drone. Says it's fairly easy to fly. A Guy

 

[ThrashZone]

Even Microsoft made a drone for the win-10TP presentation

 

[MrNeeds]

original rant: Drones are named because it's an unmanned vehicle, not because it's a saying used by the military, I think of it as a word for a work horse, a mindless object or creature that does what it's told to do.

a few years back when parrot released their quadcopter, they exclusively didn't call it a drone because you couldn't set GPS waypoints, the reason DJI call theirs drones is because you can set waypoints, they are correct calling it a drone in the above link because the model that crashed is a DJI phantom which is classed as a drone.

 

[Golden]

Scoping out this bad-boy drone at the moment:
Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Power Edition - Appcessories - Toys, Kids & Baby | Harvey Norman Australia

 

[A Guy]

Maldrone: Malware which hijacks your personal drone

Malware is no longer limited to PCs, mobile devices, corporate networks and Internet of Things (IoT) gadgets -- your drones are now also vulnerable to hijacking.

The use of drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), has expanded into the commercial consumer sector within the past few years. Now relatively cheap to produce, tiny, personal UAVs can be purchased and used for a variety of purposes -- from advanced photography to capturing sports and spying upon Apple construction sites.

Source

A Guy

 

[Golden]

Sheesh.....not even a drone is safe anymore.

 

[A Guy]

See Great Aerial Imagery On This Drone Showcase Site

Got a drone ?

Share your best aerial pictures and let's build a world map of our Earth with a bird's eye view. All DJI Phantom, AR.Drone owners an others welcome and sign up to upload your first picture!

Source

A Guy

 

[A Guy]

Drone maker to add no-fly firmware to prevent future White House buzzing

In the wake of a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency employee’s late-night drunken mischief with a DJi Phantom 2 consumer quadrocopter drone over White House airspace, President Barack Obama called for new laws to govern the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. Meanwhile, the company that manufactured the drone used in the ill-fated flight has announced that it will issue a mandatory upgrade to the firmware for its Phantom 2 line of products to make sure that customers comply with the FAA’s no-fly zone around DC.
Further Reading

Flying—and crashing—a $1,300 quadcopter drone

Stabilized GPS drone is amazing. Also, I crashed one into a tree and destroyed it.

In a press release issued this morning, DJI announced that the firmware update “will help users comply with the FAA’s Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) 0/8326, which restricts unmanned flight around the Washington, DC metropolitan area.The updated firmware (V3.10) will be released in the coming days and adds a No-Fly Zone centered on downtown Washington, DC and extends for a 25 kilometer (15.5 mile) radius in all directions. Phantom pilots in this area will not be able to take off from or fly into this airspace.”

Source

A Guy