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/
Quote from: ELTHunter on October 15, 2007, 09:37:00 PM
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?
You could cover a lot of area on a missing person search with something like that.
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.
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
Who's gonna pay for it?
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.
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"
Who's talking about the mil-spec version?
Quote from: floridacyclist on October 15, 2007, 11:58:48 PM
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!
;D
BTW, we've tried this already with some mixed results...
(http://cadetstuff.org/images/nin/msn1_001.jpg)
(http://cadetstuff.org/images/nin/msn2_002.jpg)
(http://cadetstuff.org/images/nin/msn2_003.jpg)
And that's one of our "Jr. Cadets" (my 5 year old son) holding our XB-39 Eagleye spyplane (http://www.estesrockets.com/products.php?number=4127)
(http://cadetstuff.org/images/nin/IMG_1437.JPG)
(And yes, that last inflight image is of the tops of the trees.. It was stuck for a day in some tall evergreens...)
I say we lock this thread and delete it. We cant use it because I spent $40,000 on flight training thats why!!!! :o
That makes more sense than most objections I've heard :)
Quote from: ELTHunter on October 15, 2007, 09:37:00 PM
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)
Hey
Does that kid have his FORM 5??
Quote from: wingnut on October 16, 2007, 04:22:23 AM
Hey
Does that kid have his FORM 5??
No, it would be a Form 5RC.
Quote from: Flying Pig on October 16, 2007, 01:27:34 AM
I say we lock this thread and delete it. We cant use it because I spent $40,000 on flight training thats why!!!! :o
What's the matter,
' Pig? Got a case of gear envy? ;D
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?
Quote from: Flying Pig on October 16, 2007, 08:23:06 PM
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
Quote from: Flying Pig on October 16, 2007, 08:23:06 PM
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?
Most of the military ones have a monitor on them, and you can take stills or actual video. Some of the more advanced ones have the ability to get sound, but that system is uncommon due to it's expense and complexity (you have to filter out the UAV sounds).
For those interested, there are a couple of Army MOS's for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle operator, and I think the Marines have one too. On the AF side, it's an officer job.
Here's a rundown on one of the Army UAV MOS's: http://www.goarmy.com/JobDetail.do?id=178
Don't recall the other one, read about it in the Army Times. Will dig if anyone actually wants to know that one too.
Quote from: Flying Pig on October 16, 2007, 08:23:06 PM
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?
I know that the one I linked to (based on a regular RC airplane and using off-the-shelf parts) does....it uses a small video camera and ham frequencies (or commercial freqs for paying jobs) to beam a low-res picture back....it uses that to fly the plane and aim the Canon EOS mounted on a swivel in the belly of the plane. It can swing 90deg from straight forward to straight down.