FBI is interested in a rogue UAV

FBI Seeks Public’s Assistance in Identifying, Locating Unmanned Aircraft and Operator

On Monday, March, 4, 2013, at approximately 1:15 p.m., the pilot of Alitalia Flight #608 spotted a small, unmanned aircraft while on approach to John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Alitalia flight was roughly three miles from runway 31R when the incident occurred at an altitude of approximately 1,750 feet. The unmanned aircraft came within 200 feet of the Alitalia plane. The FBI is investigating the incident and looking to identify and locate the aircraft and its operator. The unnamed aircraft was described as black in color and no more than three feet wide with four propellers. “The FBI is asking anyone with information about the unmanned aircraft or the operator to contact us,” said Special Agent in Charge John Giacalone. “Our paramount concern is the safety of aircraft passengers and crew.” Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at 212-384-1000. Tipsters may remain anonymous.

source: sUAS News aggregate.

3 feet wide with 4 propellers? That sounds like a large RC toy. Aren't drones much larger than that?

DIY Drones is a website that caters to people who love to build, program, and operate their own drones for personal use.

they do have a serious policy standard about what can and cannot be discussed on that website.

DARPA has developed sUAS units smaller than a can of soda, complete with video sensors.

A drone isn't anything more than an RC toy. The drones the US intelligence apparatus uses are relatively large, but that's only one out of an effectively limitless range of form factors. It's hard to fit a Hellfire on a mini-quadcopter, but it's also hard to fly a Predator through an open window. Just depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

It depends. The way most people use the term "drone" isn't really very clearly defined, although as far as I know, and as far as the american federal government see it, technically it means autonomously controlled aircraft, not just radio controlled. The computer controlling it could be onboard the airplane or on the ground. Usually people mean an airplane being used for an organization for purposes other than sport, be it video surveillance, electronic surveillance, aerial photography, or whatever. For each of those definitions it can be any size from the size of my watch to a 747.

But yea, a black four engined airplane 3 feet wide sounds like it's probably someone flying an RC plane a lil too close to an airport. We'll see if the guy flying it comes forward `cause he might get fined or something. It can be pretty damn dangerous so thankfully nothing happened and no one got hurt.

yeah, the US military has 5 pound guided bombs that are accurate from a 2 mile altitude.

DARPA has a challenge open where the goal is to use a network of robots to go into a house and swap a flash drive with a different flash drive, thumb sized.

drug cartels in south america have drones that have delivered cell-phones to inmates in prisons.

The military also uses extremely small and simple uav. If I remember correctly we called them sparrows. Hate to reference movies for factual reference but the one used in "Act of Valor" during the personnel recovery mission is the one I'm talking about. Nothing more than a small rc plane with a sick camera.

I highly doubt this "rogue uav" was military though as we wouldn't operate that close to an unapproved, active airspace.

I've heard disappointing reviews of the movie "Act of Valor", but you are right, towards the end of the Iraqi occupation there were more than a hundred different types of military robotics systems.

if it was military, I doubt the FBI would publicly seek information on it.

Saw a thing, might have been on the news, I'm not sure. Guy had a 3-D printer, and used it to print out a quadcopter. It was about 3 feet across, and had for rotors (propellers)...


Just sayin'.

Man, that is terrifying and has a wide array of dire consequences for hee hee heeeee it flew through a window and shot those guys hee hee!

Funny how the car explosion was from the front, but the thing flew in from the back.

It is a fake but still this IS alot closer than you think what with 3d printers and kids being used to technology.

I'm going to call BS on the drone. There's way too many Hollywood effects going on there. It's a clever production, and though I don't doubt that the technology exists to do what they are portraying here (maybe with a larger platform), I think Charlene is just a flying prop with a camera and a fake gun. Hell I'm not even convinced it isn't CGI. Also, looks like the hills of So Cal, plus they're blowing up an American car, so Russian? More like Russian-Americans with some time, money and cars to burn.

Well, in an interesting side note (also relevant to the gun debate that we so like to discuss here), Keith Ratliff, the producer of FPS Russia was murdered this January. Apparently his love for guns (he was allegedly surrounded by several) wasn't enough to keep someone else from using one on him. Sorry gun enthusiasts, but you just lost one of your own probably by one of your own.

Oh geeze, and some people are (naturally) blaming the government. WTF!

I already said it was a fake.

Also he is based out of Georgia, as in the US State.

Yeah, I began writing and doing other things at the time (like looking closely at the youtube video in HD) in the 20 minutes you posted that.. Guess it would have saved some time if you said that in the first place.

Also, can we stop with the completely unrelated guns and explosion porn now, please? This thread is giving me a headache.

it's sad that Keith Ratliff left behind his wife and son.

back to UAVs, sUAS, and hobbiests that fly things:

what can we learned from this? UAV systems are an emerging technology, and the FBI is making sure that it keeps ahead of the curve with people who do stupid things accidentally or others who intentionally exploit technology.