Drones driven by numbskulls

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pacifica-drone-rescue-20170130-story.html

Read this charming tales in this mornings paper and nearly threw up. A helo rescue operation was disrupted by a near-flying drone operated by a clueless neighbor, leading to a much more extended technical rope rescue. Apparently the victim was reasonably stable since there is no mention of medical complications.

Helicopter rescues are quite dangerous anyway. My friend who works for a private ambulance company says they are used more than they should be because they make a lot more money for the company than other forms of travel/rescue. crash, 6 dead

Not that technical cliff evacuations are exactly risk free! I suppose that if you were a commercial helo company you would welcome the revenue, but all of my experience has been with government ships (Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Arizona Dept of Public Safety) and no money changed hands. I am sure that a fair number of our victims would not have survived the more lengthy cliff evac.

Still, choppers do crash...Oughta be a law!

I understand that there are a number of anti-drone technologies, radio jammers, net guns, and attack drones that have been, or are being developed. Given that this is not the first time emergency operations have been impeded because of potential drone-strike, what are the chances of seeing some of these become police issue equipment in the near future?

I don't see any legal issues in the way of emergency services using nets or net guns against drones flying illegally or dangerously. Intentional interference with a radio signal is illegal in the USA pretty much without exception; we'd need a change in Federal law for such a device to be used against a drone legally.

One country came up with a response that will probably please chaosmagnet. The first paragraph of this report is:



https://www.yahoo.com/news/taiwan-threatens-shoot-down-drones-122724051.html

Shoot down an unmanned drone vs allowing its operator to endanger aircraft worth tens of millions of dollars and full of people. Seems pretty easy to me.

I'd be a little worried where any missed shots would land, but otherwise, happy hunting.

Having had bird shot rain down on me when pheasant hunting, if the drone is close enough to be taken out with 7 1/2 shot, it shouldn't be too dangerous.