Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by markman 4050 days ago
We live in a society with motor vehicles. They are here to stay. It doesn't matter what their safety record may be or under which parameters they are operated. Drones are an entirely separate issue. We do not live in a society with drones. Period. Now if we would like to introduce them into our society it doesn't matter what laws or regulations are established for their safe operation without on-board fail safes their introduction is unlikely. How do I know? I'll just pose this question: Are you OK with any drone dropping out of the sky and landing on top of your new born infants soft little squishy skull? Find me a person that will say yes to that question.
1 comments
mod 4050 days ago
Nobody is okay with that, it's an asinine question.

Am I okay with my new born infant's soft little squishy skull living in a world with drones, which occasionally drop out of the sky?

Yep.

And we do live in that world, actually. They've already been "introduced," as you put it.

link
markman 4050 days ago
Not even apples and oranges. I know that they can still fly safely with only two motors if they are opposing. They may be so safe that it won't be for years to come but eventually after enough mad mothers are up in arms about somebody losing an eye or it getting sucked into an airliner jet that they're going to start heaping on the restrictions. One of the concerns with using them for deliveries at least in a city like Los Angeles is that people will try and shoot them down.

Already been introduced(bad term)? So 1 in 3 households have a drone in the U.S.? OK 1 in 4? You can always count on this statistic- 1 in 10? Nah? Surely 5% of Americans own or use the services of a drone then right? Yeah then they haven't been introduced yet

link
mod 4050 days ago
I believe a jet engine can handle this with no issues. They're tested to pass birds through with no issues.
link
markman 4050 days ago
Really? I didn't know that. That flight out of New York where "Captain Sully"? made the first successful water ditch of a commercial airliner in the history of aviation had a flame out from geese, but that was an entire flock.

They're so small I doubt they'd have much of an impact on light aircraft either.

link
maxerickson 4050 days ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_object_damage#Jet_engin...

For the large bird test, the engine is allowed to shutdown.

link