Mystery Drones

^^^ Yes, that must have been a few years ago, since I believe all the current drones will return to the point of origin if they lose the signal (unless massive interference with GPS).
It was 2013, before our last visit to him in 2014.
 
As a matter of fact, when the Starship Enterprise goes into battle, they sometimes keep their navigation lights on. Why?
'Cause it looks good for the cameras. Gotta keep those ratings up even if it costs a few crewmen along the way.
 
Nothing to see here. DW is directly involved with military unmanned a/c. DS is stationed at Lakehurst and is involved with helicopters. DS said that one of his aircrew is in the emergency room because someone on the ground was pointing a laser at their huey. Other helo's have been shot at. This is ridiculous over reaction and the media running with a story to get clicks. Most of the sightings are aircraft, either fixed wing of helo's. Some drones but they are being flown by hobbyists. I have been closely involved with all types of military a/c (to include unmanned) for over 30 years. Trust me, people DO NOT know what they are looking at. ESPECIALLY at night. With all of my experience I am occasionally fooled by what I THINK I see. Zero threat other than over reaction.
But...the military can actually do something about this. I grew up near an army base that frequently did training operations at night including dropping flares that looked like UFOs to locals...this was 45-50 years ago. My dad worked for the unit (as a civilian) that did a lot of this training. When we would see the "UFOs" he would tell us they were nothing but plenty of others reported them and there were a LOT of wasted police and other resources.

There is no reason not to ANNOUNCE training missions in the US to avoid false reports. Having worked in national security, I get the need for security, but I find the recent drone and other sightings to be irresponsible if they are in fact military operations. Our adversaries know what we train for!

The crash this week in DC was apparently an army "continuity of government" operation that went awry because it was not properly communicated to all of those potentially impacted. I'm sure the drone reports are something similar that the military is not exactly hiding but is ineffectively communicating about them.
 
The crash this week in DC was apparently an army "continuity of government" operation that went awry because it was not properly communicated to all of those potentially impacted. I'm sure the drone reports are something similar that the military is not exactly hiding but is ineffectively communicating about them.
Truly a tragedy but I think it’s way more complicated than that. I’ve watched maybe 10 hours of “expert” opinions on this. I’m surprised it does not have a dedicated thread (or maybe I missed it). I’ll just say I’m following but gonna wait till the final report to accept an explanation.
 
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I’ll just say I’m following but gonna wait till the final report to accept an explanation.
My sentiments exactly. I suspect that like many (most?) aviation disasters, there is not just one simple cause, but a combination of many separate events.
 
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My sentiments exactly. I suspect that like many (most?) aviation disasters, there not just one simple cause, but a combination of many separate events.
Yep, an incorrect pressure setting for the altimeter could easily result in a 100ft variance in altitude. Just one of many things that could have happened.

Flieger
 
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