380th ESForces Squadron Launches Raven B

[ELTHunter]

Scroll to the sixth story down about the 380th ESF using the Raven B.  I'm sure I'm way oversimplifying it, but this thing is about the size of a medium size RC plane.  Let's fantasize a minute and ask why can't CAP utilize this type of resource for disaster relief, counter drug, border protection, HLS, even SAR.

http://dailyreport.afa.org/afa/

[JayT]

Scroll to the sixth story down about the 380th ESF using the Raven B.  I'm sure I'm way oversimplifying it, but this thing is about the size of a medium size RC plane.  Let's fantasize a minute and ask why can't CAP utilize this type of resource for disaster relief, counter drug, border protection, HLS, even SAR.

http://dailyreport.afa.org/afa/

Price, training, storage, operation sercurity, need? Why would we 'need' it?

[♠SARKID♠]

You could cover a lot of area on a missing person search with something like that.

[floridacyclist]

Or you could do something as simple as fly a small airborne repeater in order to get your signal or even ground and aerial disaster photos (taken by the UAV) back to a mission base.

You wouldn't even have to pack it out...just carry fuel so that it could be sent out from a mission base, land at the GT's vehicle and be refueled before being re-launched. Of course, this would assume that you had an experienced RC pilot on the GT....probably not something that is feasible for wide-scale deployment, but as a technical specialty kind of thing (like Canine, horse-mounted or Urban SAR) it might be developable. Or just carry it in a small trailer behind the GT vehicle...a small cargo trailer would serve admirably both as a permanent hangar, support workshop, and transporter unit, saving you the cost of making it ultra-backpackable.

A small helicopter might work well in this role too although you could quickly run into cost overruns, plus range, reliability, altitude and payload capacity limitations.

I doubt that standard RC radio packs would work for this due to some of the ranges involved. Perhaps some sort of wifi or spread-spectrum setup?

Sure, it may not seem totally feasible on the surface, but that's half the fun of brainstorming...and sometimes an impractical idea might lead to something that is workable.

[floridacyclist]

Something like this:

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/7376/

Found by searching at:

http://www.altavista.com/web/results?itag=ody&q=%22radio+control%22+aircraft+wireless+photography&kgs=1&kls=0

[SarDragon]

Who's gonna pay for it?

[floridacyclist]

The same person who pays for a gung-ho member's $200.00 web gear and $8,000.00 4X4 offroad SARmobile. Like I said, it would be a specialty item and therefore probably limited to members who were already into RC flying as a seperate hobby.

[Murph]

First I'd like to say, I'm not interested in inserting myself into this conversation.

I just want to point out that the Danish Army just purchased 12 of these Systems:

"The order includes 12 systems, logistics support and training services, for a total value of $2.4 million. Each Raven B system typically consists of three aircraft, a hand-held ground control station, a remote viewing terminal, systems spares, and related services."

Price tag: $2.4 Million Dollars

Let's just say we bought - 1 System - for all the math genii out there, that's $200,000.

A G1000 Equipped Skylane is $349,500 - that's list, I'm sure we get the "good guy discount".

Not to mention, what good is 1 system.

"Talk amongst yourselves"

[floridacyclist]

Who's talking about the mil-spec version?

[NIN]

Who's talking about the mil-spec version?

Have you seen the way our members treat some of our gear?  I'd want the mil-spec version! 

[NIN]

BTW, we've tried this already with some mixed results...






And that's one of our "Jr. Cadets" (my 5 year old son) holding our XB-39 Eagleye spyplane


(And yes, that last inflight image is of the tops of the trees.. It was stuck for a day in some tall evergreens...)

[Flying Pig]

I say we lock this thread and delete it.  We cant use it because I spent $40,000 on flight training thats why!!!!

[floridacyclist]

That makes more sense than most objections I've heard

[Nomex Maximus]

Scroll to the sixth story down about the 380th ESF using the Raven B.  I'm sure I'm way oversimplifying it, but this thing is about the size of a medium size RC plane.  Let's fantasize a minute and ask why can't CAP utilize this type of resource for disaster relief, counter drug, border protection, HLS, even SAR.

http://dailyreport.afa.org/afa/

Why can't we use one of these? I'll tell you why. Because none of us will fit into it, that's why!

(sorry, but no one else took the bait)

[wingnut]

Hey

Does that kid have  his FORM 5??

[Nomex Maximus]

Hey

Does that kid have  his FORM 5??

No, it would be a Form 5RC.

[CadetProgramGuy]

Hey

Does that kid have  his FORM 5??

No, it would be a Form 5RC.

[kidquote]

I'm CAPF 5 1/2

[/kidquote]

[Hawk200]

I say we lock this thread and delete it.  We cant use it because I spent $40,000 on flight training thats why!!!!

What's the matter, ' Pig? Got a case of gear envy? 

[Flying Pig]

That thing is pretty cool though all kidding aside.  does it have a monitor to show you what your taking pictures of or do you hav to guesstimate?

[NIN]

That thing is pretty cool though all kidding aside.  does it have a monitor to show you what your taking pictures of or do you hav to guesstimate?

Total guesstimate...

Kick butt Christmas present.  My son fell in love with it, calls it "Planey" (hehe, he has this unconscious urge to "name" everything)

Point and pray