PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Yep, safe to fly in controlled airspace.
View Single Post
Old 6th Sep 2010, 12:56
  #20 (permalink)  
LowObservable
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Far West Wessex
Posts: 2,580
Received 4 Likes on 2 Posts
L J R

Far from it - it seems that FltLt is making a clear distinction between G-Hawk and the rest, and is zeroing in on a specific problem: The UAV that loses its link, and software that fails to recognize that the link is gone.

Of course, you can get a parallel problem in manned aircraft if the pilot or pilots become incapacitated, and that has happened (Payne Stewart and Helios 737 to give two examples). But there is also a perception issue: if a UAV crashes on or into somebody (elsewhere than the Congo) it's not only going to be a potentially tragic accident but will set the deployment of UAVs back.

I wonder though, if the lost-link problem simply needs a bit more technical attention (as the PS and Helios accidents focused attention on oxygen training). So far, a lot of the lost-link records concern products of one company, who have their own proprietary ways of doing things and don't like to be told anything different.
LowObservable is offline