First Person POV: Historian Francis Fukuyama Takes You Along on His Drone Flight
- Posted on February 22, 2012 at 12:07pm by
Liz Klimas
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With President Barack Obama recently signing into law the Federal Aviation Administration’s bill that would modernize flight to include GPS technology and in turn open up the sky to commercial and private unmanned aerial vehicles, there are not only concerns over stronger oversight by law enforcement but also in hobbyist drone operation.
(Related: Send in the drones…don’t bother, they’re here)
For example, drones have been used by the media to capture aerial footage of Russian protests and riots in Poland. A civilian drone operated in Texas recently spotted a meat packing plant violating laws by dumping animal products into a local stream.
The Daily Mail reports that U.S. historian Francis Fukuyama, known for writing The End of History during the fall of the Berlin wall, is one of many taking on DIY drone projects. According to the Daily Mail, the popularity of Fukuyama’s videos and blog posts on the Internet regarding his amateur drone operation has some continuing the debate over civilian drone use:
The historian wrote: “I have always wanted to have my own drone that could send back a live video feed.
“It is extremely easy to build a drone now that can do not just surveillance but can carry rather large payloads.
“I want to have my drone before the government makes them illegal. The U.S has been fighting such low-tech enemies lately that we haven’t thought through the nature of a world in which lots of people have sophisticated drones, not just other countries but private individuals. One somewhat worrying thing is that virtually all of this equipment comes from China or Taiwan.”
Here is one of Fukuyama’s videos:
U.S. Air Force Pilot John Robb wrote on his blog that if terrorists were to use drones, a full ban on civilian drone use would be instituted. According to the Daily Mail, one commenter said that the “cat’s out of the bag on drone tech,” implying that even if laws were passed, there would still be violations.
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TheFormerlyInvisibleMan
Posted on April 24, 2012 at 6:56pmBuying lots of balloons, helium and monofilament as I type here.
Report Post »SenorStrange
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 1:03pmWell, it’s not going to sneak up on anybody.
Report Post »Au
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 8:30pmbest way to deal with civilian drones . buy your kid a good bb gun and tell him to play outside.
Report Post »stockli
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 7:02pmI have and fly multiple drones, both fixed wing and multirotors. The thought of using them for any spectacular terrorist event is absurd, though that won’t stop the government from trying to regulate them. They simply don’t carry enough payload to be interesting on that level. There’s a reason that the Predator is much larger than a Cessna, it needs to be that big to do anything. These people don’t mind killing themselves, they’ll just rip off a Citation and crash it into a flashy target.
Any basis for regulation will be based on air and ground safety, more than likely. What’s most likely is heavy regulation that makes them only usable to expensive commercial operators, much like commercial aviation is now. My only hope is that they figure out that it‘s absurd to require a pilot’s license to operate a drone when traditional piloting skills are useless in that environment, as you don’t interact with regular planes at low altitude. But as always, the government will take a ham-fisted approach to the situation and completely stifle innovation that could have far-reaching improvements for farming, surveying, etc, all at very low cost.
And most of the things are electric, too! You‘d think they’d love that! Actual workable electric vehicles! Something Obama has completely failed at thus far!
Report Post »TheSitRep
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 8:01pmWhat about dirty drones or biological?
Report Post »Mutiny
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 8:20pmYa know there is one simple fix we could do to get the government out of our business and allow us the freedoms the Constitutions intended, its elect Ron Paul to be our president!!!! You can say what you want about him, but our freedom would increase.
Report Post »stockli
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 11:27pmSuch an attack could be delivered by many other means. Banning every possible delivery system would mean no more private aviation, no more trucks, on and on. As Milton Friedman said, any potential government regulation must be evaluated with a balance sheet… Can all sharp edges be removed from the world?
Report Post »garylee123
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 1:08pmIt seems that the legislation was approved so that RADICAL groups can use them. We saw the one shot down that was owned by the enviros this week. PETA has them, Green Peace has obtained GOVERNMENT drones.(Hmmm, how did that happen?). A local group is protesting clear cutting that can only be seen from the air (a drone). Coming soon to your airspace.
Report Post »THX-1138
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 1:17pm@Mutiny
“You can say what you want about him, but our freedom would increase.”
Freedoms don’t generally increase during World Wars. Say what you want, but Ron’s Foreign policy is insane.
Report Post »CyberJocky
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 6:14pmLong Live Big Brother!!!
Report Post »supressorgrid
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 6:08pmWho wants drones other than government,nosey do gooders,paperazzi,buttinskeys and nanneys. I will burn any drone that trespasses onto my property. I am now building a R/C interceptor to destroy any arial interlopers. a couple of rocket motors and servos will do the trick.
Report Post »NazaKaza
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 12:35pmReally?!! What a delusional, paranoid, knee-jerk mindset. Nobody wants to fly over your piss-ant property. What we have here is a bunch of hobbiest and photographers advancing the limits of technology. Geez, go crawl back in your cave. These people will be designing future weapons and rescue systems for us ( i.e. U.S.A.).
Report Post »Duh…Terrorist used planes; lets burn planes, terrorist used knives; lets burn everyone with a knife, terrorist used cars; lets burn all the cars, terrorists used phone; lets burn everyone with a phone…what a moron…
budzy1911
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 5:39pmWho needs to spend money on clay pidgins when people have drones? A 12 Gauge and #8 shot – better than trap!
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 9:06pmA 12-guage would scatter too much, and the drone is higher than the shotgun’s range. I have a friend who makes those things in his garage as a hobby out of junk he finds in other people’s trash. He pilots them with discarded TV remotes, and sells them to the neighborhood kids for a few bucks. They have dogfights with them and crash them into each other. He’s only 16, but he’s a real-life Jimmy Neutron. And there are a lot of them out there, believe it or not.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 4:39pmI almost had to repent after trying to pronounce Francis’ last name.
Report Post »Blazen420
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 4:28pmI don’t want drones made to be illegal, but I don’t want it to be illegal to destroy someone eles either. I say it should be a unregulated free for all.
Report Post »MonkeyBeagle
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 3:34pmThis video is like a firecracker that doesnt go off
Report Post »stang289
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 11:30pmHere is a way better drone video Drone VS police Heli http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nifuuM9oltU
Report Post »RedDawn2012
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 8:59amYeah, I’d at least have had it look into one of those windows.
Report Post »docvet
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 3:17pmIf guns are make illegal, only criminals will have guns. If drones are made illegal ,…( you finish the thought, but it will probably include governments, Wikileaks, anonymous, nosy people, survivalists, people who will do anything they are told not to do and more).
Report Post »jungle J
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 1:35pmThis why we need to kill the enemies of freedom now!
Report Post »Texas Chris
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 1:39pmYou mean the government? Because they are the biggest, no, the only threat to your freedom.
Report Post »BostonHarold
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 1:30pmThis would be great for buzzing nude beaches! (Just sayin’)
Report Post »Blackw0lf
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 2:10pmMaybe for the most part most of what you see at a nude beach you may wish you could unsee
from both sexes
Just saying
Report Post »This coming from a guy who likes a girl with some meat on her
VoteRightDammit
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 12:48pmPretty boring flight …………….
Report Post »JonQ
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 12:40pmthe jihadis don’t need radio controlled “drones” or mutli-copters – they will get some angry young guy who’s been given a load of BS in the mosque ( a real live “drone”) by some wahabbi imam, and he will strap on a vest filled with C4 or semtex and ball bearings, and walk right into whatever building or checkpoint line they tell him to and blow himself and other up. nearly foolproof and no issues with trying to guide a model into a building. An adult male can carry much more explosives and shrapnel that one of these little drones or multi-copters can – a person can carry enough to bring down a decent sized building, while most of these things might carry enough to blow out some windows. These guys have shown they have no qualms about blowing themselves up, why bother with the trouble of a drone?
Report Post »But even such logic and historical pattern of behavior of the muslim terrorists won’t stop the government from over reaching.
TomFerrari
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 2:00pmI fear you are thinking INSIDE the box.
I won’t describe the scenario I fear, because I don’t want to encourage it.
But, suffice it to say, the armaments you described are not the type I fear.
I think we need to be arming with ‘Net Launchers’ or ‘Rope Launchers’ or other sorts of ‘Entanglement Devices.‘ I don’t think anyone wants to see these puppies hovering over their homes.
What are you going to do when the neighbor‘s 14 yr old has one spying through your 17 yr old daughter’s window? Over your swimming pool as your wife suntans?
A double barrel, 12ga, Browning would probably be pretty good at bringing one down, but not in city limits. What kind of shot load does everyone else recommend for multicopters? RC Helos? Drones?
Just kidding… okay, only half way.
Hmmm… wonder if I could fit a nylon-filamint-net in a 10ga sabot? LOL
Report Post »nappy
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 12:36pmSorry… what was the point of that video?
Report Post »brntout
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 12:31pmIs the song “Flight of The Bumblebee” running through anyone else’s head?
Report Post »CyberJocky
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 6:47pmIt wasn’t until now…
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 12:14pmA real time live feed drone. Way cool, now put some sound dampening tech onboard. Maybe a couple of estes rockets with exploding tips. Homemade UAVs. Gotta have me one!
Report Post »DD313
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 12:13pmIf drones are banned, only criminals and terrorists and the government will have them.
Report Post »...EriK
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 12:25pmIf drones are banned, who with mate with the queen? Sorry, just couldn’t resist!
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 9:09pmErik, I‘ll bet 9 out of 10 readers didn’t even get that.
Report Post »