Drone Racing League

[jhwalker]

"Does drone racing have what it takes to be a sport? Billionaire property developer and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross thinks it might, and has invested $1 million in the first round of funding for New York startup The Drone Racing League via his investment firm RSE Ventures, reports The Wall Street Journal. Like similar organizations, the League races small drones that can hit speeds of up to 70 mph and are flown with the aid of goggles that transmit a live video feed from the craft to the pilot (also known as FPV or first-person view racing). The startup has already held a small trial run with six pilots in a warehouse in Yonkers this summer, and is planning to hold its first public race later this year, collecting revenue from ticket sales, sponsorship, and media deals."

I think that this could be big. Especially if they use sites that are sufficiently protected that the drones can blast away at each other.

[xbacksideslider]

The establishment powers that be are afraid of drones.

There are lawsuits that allege that the Forest Service let cabins burn in the Station Fire but used their aerial assets to stop the fire in the bushes nearby. Then recently, same situation allegedly below Big Bear/138/10 area and private party drones were up and taping, so . . . . . the fire helicopters were grounded, out of concern for safety, they said.

[jhwalker]

The establishment powers that be are afraid of drones.

There are lawsuits that allege that the Forest Service let cabins burn in the Station Fire but used their aerial assets to stop the fire in the bushes nearby. Then recently, same situation allegedly below Big Bear/138/10 area and private party drones were up and taping, so . . . . . the fire helicopters were grounded, out of concern for safety, they said.

They are a problem and will only get to be more of a problem. I have not fully thought this out, but right now I would be inclined to blast them out of the sky. Not sure what to do with the ammo that misses. Maybe a Terminator Drone, to take out the piss-ant drones, using a form of buckshot as small as the bastards are. I used a good photo-drone for pics of my property and casa and then my neighbors saw how nice they were and used a drone to make part of a sales brochure for their casa.

I'd watch a drone race inside some rotten old building with video feeds from each drone.

[xbacksideslider]

It's the same old game, the established users of whatever common resource it is, immediately move to kill the baby in the crib.
Anytime someone yells "Safety" grab your wallet.

Very similar to the FAA declaring "no fly zones" over the rioting in Baltimore or Ferguson, in the name of safety but mainly they wanted to make sure that there was no independent uncensorable "bird's eye" TV station video.

The media too dislikes the competition, they don't like "citizen journalists." Even a single local station might have millions invested in helicopters and their support assets; multiply that single self interest against drones by the thousands of local TV stations around the nation, then unite them all by the big three networks. So . . . . the media is all too happy to parrot the press releases issued by the fire/police/state establishment, by the FAA, to suppress and regulate a new technology that may or may not actually compromise their powers and may or may not actually present a hazard.

The government always opposes independent accountability, they don't like in car dash videos, they don't like officer chest video cams, they don't want second guessing. They really don't care whether it will actually compromise their powers or not, their attitude is - "no second guessing" - just get rid of it before it gets too big.

Don't get me wrong, I used to be a law & order Republican; over time, however, I've become disgusted with how law enforcement brass have bowed to political correctness, embraced the monopolization of guns in their hands alone, and appear to create rules for the cop on the street that avoid real crime fighting; the whole system seems focused on the easy middle class pickings.

I want to support first responders but this drone regulation thing is another example of why I'm frustrated.

Notice, they do not couple their demand for a drone ban with an offer of installing "live feed, unedited, open to the net" video on those fire helicopters or planes. When they do that, then I'd grant them credibility and more respect.

[jhwalker]

My bias is that one of my sons is on the ground, on "the tip of the spear" fighting the wildfires and I really get concerned when the air support that he expects to have is pulled because of a drone in the vicinity. I question that a pissant drone would effect a helicopter, or could stand up to the prop wash from a copter -- but I have NO experience with drones other than watching the one that was videoing our casa get pushed around by pretty gentle breezes.

[xbacksideslider]

Heck of a point.

They grounded the air support "because of drones" during that fire on the backside of Big Bear last month. My thought at the time, admittedly uninformed, was "that's spite;" they'd rather make a point, even see other people's assets burn, than find out if there really is a risk. I don't know if they pulled ground assets too, probably did, and that last would be prudent.

Not wanting to cut too close but I have to say, first responders are paid, trained, early retired, pensioned, and protected with generous disability and death benefits - all to take risks. It's a fine line. Ticks me off when they balk over some trumped up or dubious or political "risk."

Meanwhile, the rest of us are hectored with "you have to give back" you have to sacrifice . . . . for some cause that some one else is going to take credit for, and, for a cause that they, not me, thinks important. No, I'll give on my terms to what I think worthy. I want the "feel good" of that anyway, I'm paying, it's mine.

[jhwalker]

"Not wanting to cut too close but I have to say, first responders are paid, trained, early retired, pensioned, and protected with generous disability and death benefits - all to take risks. It's a fine line. " Somehow my son, who is carrying a chainsaw on the front line and sleeping on the ground for days at a time, didn't find that job. He would be pissed if he knew that I mentioned his situation.

Because fighting fires is a governmental function, I would tend to suspect that the administrative chain of command upward is dysfunctional, the higher, the more dysfunctional. I don't really know the answer to corruption/incompetence/whatever in government functions. I was much less cynical when younger.

[Tetge]

You drone advocates should know that great things are coming. Drones will soon be able to peek through keyholes and go where drones have never gone before:

phpBB [video]

[jhwalker]

You talking 'bout me?
" but right now I would be inclined to blast them out of the sky. Not sure what to do with the ammo that misses. Maybe a Terminator Drone, to take out the piss-ant drones, using a form of buckshot as small as the bastards are."

[xbacksideslider]

We're hearing a lot of anti-drone talk now, generated mostly by the entrenched occupants of the economic space that the drones are moving into.

Follow the money.

We are getting one side of the story, from the losers, from those challenged by this new tech, the new eyes and ears, the new modes of info conveyance. The status quo, those with things to hide, and those with something to lose, they are the sources of the blow back.