Media droning on again...
Thread Starter
Media droning on again...
It seems that the media are calling remote control, or autonomous, submarines "drones".
MH370: Underwater drone to aid search for missing plane | World news | theguardian.com
BBC News - Missing flight MH370: Robotic submarine to begin search
So the target towing DH Queen Bee aircraft of the 1930/40s - nicknamed 'the drone' - is now responsible for the naming of robotic submarines! I wonder what this means for the sandalista within DroneWarsUK, who seem to think that they're all evil killing amchines about to inherit the earth?
LJ
MH370: Underwater drone to aid search for missing plane | World news | theguardian.com
BBC News - Missing flight MH370: Robotic submarine to begin search
Search chief Angus Houston said the Bluefin-21 drone would be sent down as soon as possible to search for wreckage on the sea floor.
LJ
You believe that the media (and everyone else) is referencing 'the target towing DH Queen Bee aircraft of the 1930/40s' when they refer to drones?
I really don't know why everyone gets their knickers in a twist over the term. The objections to its use from the MoD etc are down it being a politcally charged term that makes their job of selling their use harder, not because of any techincal inaccuracy.
It has entered the popular vernacular, and is in the dictionary as such, so let it go.
drone
1 /droʊn/ Show Spelled [drohn] Show IPA
noun 1. the male of the honeybee and other bees, stingless and making no honey. See illus. under bee.
2. a. an unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control or beyond line of sight: the GPS of a U.S. spy drone.
b. (loosely) any unmanned aircraft or ship that is guided remotely: a radio-controlled drone.
3. a person who lives on the labor of others; parasitic loafer.
4. a drudge.
I really don't know why everyone gets their knickers in a twist over the term. The objections to its use from the MoD etc are down it being a politcally charged term that makes their job of selling their use harder, not because of any techincal inaccuracy.
It has entered the popular vernacular, and is in the dictionary as such, so let it go.
drone
1 /droʊn/ Show Spelled [drohn] Show IPA
noun 1. the male of the honeybee and other bees, stingless and making no honey. See illus. under bee.
2. a. an unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control or beyond line of sight: the GPS of a U.S. spy drone.
b. (loosely) any unmanned aircraft or ship that is guided remotely: a radio-controlled drone.
3. a person who lives on the labor of others; parasitic loafer.
4. a drudge.
I think you will find that the Queen Bee in operation was;
a. Radio controlled , therefore not a drone.
b. An aerial target itself, not target-towing.
a. Radio controlled , therefore not a drone.
b. An aerial target itself, not target-towing.
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3. a person who lives on the labor of others; parasitic loafer.
Cool, we could blitz the area, we have millions of those "Drones" we could drop in the sea off Australia..
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"I thought we Brits had dropped several tens of thousands of them IN Australia in the 19th Century"
Well they certainly made a better job of this country than others did of theirs.
JohnB
Well they certainly made a better job of this country than others did of theirs.
JohnB
Shortly after one of these flying acroynms Hellfired some rusty old Toyota pick-up and splattered the desert with the worthless remains of some ex-Al-Qaeda vermin and his cohorts, I wrote something on PPRuNe about 'The drones of death' being the cause. Some trawling meeja-luvvie picked up on the term - and the result was that the word 'drone' re-entered common use.
Reliable word has it that the RPV/RPAS/UAV/UAS/(insert latest silly TLA/4LA as reqd.) 'industry', specifically 't Bungling Baron Waste o'Space's mob oop Preston way, really, really hate the word 'drone'......as do drone operators.
So drone it MUST now be! Tough doo-doo, live with it!
Reliable word has it that the RPV/RPAS/UAV/UAS/(insert latest silly TLA/4LA as reqd.) 'industry', specifically 't Bungling Baron Waste o'Space's mob oop Preston way, really, really hate the word 'drone'......as do drone operators.
So drone it MUST now be! Tough doo-doo, live with it!
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So it was you......
Cheeky old beggar, Haraka! If nurse appears in her form fitting uniform with a wicked little smile, cocoa will be the last thing on the agenda....
And you'd know more about old age than I would in any case!
NutLoose, although the term 'drone' had been around for years, it wasn't really in common use until shortly after I'd written about 'The drones of death' on PPRuNe. Probably just a coincidence.....but true.
Normal people use nouns for aircraft, such as helicopter, aeroplane, sailplane, balloon, microlight etc. But the term for these flying acronyms kept changing to yet another silly TLA/4LA - so the establised term 'drone' is entirely reasonable. To everyone, it would seem, except drone operators and manufacturers.....whose latest preference is RPAS
There is zero chance of the meeja using the term 'RPAS', so 'drone' is here to stay, like it or not.
And you'd know more about old age than I would in any case!NutLoose, although the term 'drone' had been around for years, it wasn't really in common use until shortly after I'd written about 'The drones of death' on PPRuNe. Probably just a coincidence.....but true.
Normal people use nouns for aircraft, such as helicopter, aeroplane, sailplane, balloon, microlight etc. But the term for these flying acronyms kept changing to yet another silly TLA/4LA - so the establised term 'drone' is entirely reasonable. To everyone, it would seem, except drone operators and manufacturers.....whose latest preference is RPAS
There is zero chance of the meeja using the term 'RPAS', so 'drone' is here to stay, like it or not.
Last edited by BEagle; 15th Apr 2014 at 06:35.
Not all operators, BEags - there's a piece in the latest Air Power Review in which OC 13 Squadron makes a similar point and suggests that perhaps getting people to understand that drones are not quite what dronewars et al would want us to believe would be a more profitable approach to the word...
Last edited by Archimedes; 15th Apr 2014 at 17:19.
Calling RPVs, UAPs or UASs "flying acronyms" is misleading ,as these terms are not acronymns, being abbreviations; although conceivably you could make a sort of word out of "RPAS".
"Drone" is of course a word properly used to describe a pre-programmed pilot-less machine ( normally an aircraft) loosely and unfortunately used by the ignorant as a synonym for an RPV.
The fact that such a term it is in common incorrect usage , does not necessarily infer its acceptance by those professionally involved. The press call any tracked vehicle with a gun a "tank", refer tautologically to 'SAM Missiles" , confuse "aerostats" with tethered LTA platforms and seem to think that "dirigible" refers to a rigid structured aerostat. I see now that a "Fencer" is being referred to as a fighter ( O.K. that was originally an old ASCC cock-up but "Bencer" wasn't really a retrospective option).
By all means let us laugh at the puerile antics of the "meeja" but don't let us fall into the trap of acceptance of misleading and ultimately confusing terms.
And while we're at it, when (and why) some years ago did the term "strike" lose its particular connotation? I also note that "proliferation" has also seemingly changed its meaning in parlance vis-a-vis WMD.
"Drone" is of course a word properly used to describe a pre-programmed pilot-less machine ( normally an aircraft) loosely and unfortunately used by the ignorant as a synonym for an RPV.
The fact that such a term it is in common incorrect usage , does not necessarily infer its acceptance by those professionally involved. The press call any tracked vehicle with a gun a "tank", refer tautologically to 'SAM Missiles" , confuse "aerostats" with tethered LTA platforms and seem to think that "dirigible" refers to a rigid structured aerostat. I see now that a "Fencer" is being referred to as a fighter ( O.K. that was originally an old ASCC cock-up but "Bencer" wasn't really a retrospective option).
By all means let us laugh at the puerile antics of the "meeja" but don't let us fall into the trap of acceptance of misleading and ultimately confusing terms.
And while we're at it, when (and why) some years ago did the term "strike" lose its particular connotation? I also note that "proliferation" has also seemingly changed its meaning in parlance vis-a-vis WMD.
The fact that such a term it is in common incorrect usage , does not
necessarily infer its acceptance by those professionally involved.
Like I said, I don't see the term 'drone' as being misleading. Politcally charged and unhelpful maybe, but not misleading.
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BEagle ... we should be more concerned with the prospect of Drone BBQ's looking to join the ranks of the PPRuNe BBQ Squadron 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XHJBxEAZ3E
Coff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XHJBxEAZ3E
Coff.
Like I said, I don't see the term 'drone' as being misleading. Politcally (sic) charged and unhelpful maybe, but not misleading.
No harm in disagreeing Harak, but no need for the smug 'sic'. I did spot that error not long after it was posted, but decided against correcting it as I thought it was our comments that we were discussing, not our spelling or grammar.
Stay classy.
Stay classy.
