Perhaps he thought it was Al Qida, coming back for another bite. :rolleyes:
I have learned two things from this man
First, I now know what gauge shotgun one uses to hunt model airplanes. Always nice to know. (Does one use the same gauge to hunt RC cars? RC boats? What shell to use? Decisions, decisions. Perhaps Martha Stewart will clear this pressing issue up for us.)
Bah. He doesn’t take defending his airspace anywhere near seriously enough. He needs to get one of these, though getting one of these on the black market might be easier. Personally, I think it’s worth spending the extra cash to get one of these.
Serious question: in the linked article he says it was spooking his goats and he had previously reported it to the police; at what point is he justified in taking action? If a dog is worrying sheep, it can be justifiably shot (here in the U.K.).
IMHO if he’s reported it to the police and can prove so and they’ve taken no action, then his action seems reasonably justified.
Well, I dunno about that. Apparently the .410 was pretty ineffective. So, we know what gauge not to use, but that doesn’t automatically tell us what gauge DOES work for anti-(model) aircraft defense–would a 20-gauge do, or would you need to go on up to a 12-gauge?
Personnally, I would use one of these . Should be enough, after all they aren’t flying that high (as a bonus it would make a nice anti-personnel deterrent).
Am I the only one who sees this as justified? If big planes have to follow rules, why shouldn’t RC ones? If you have kids or anything in your yard, and a kid himself is controlling this thing, whats to stop it from getting out of control, or running out of fuel, and running into your house, or another person on the property? He called the cops, and it appears as if they did nothing. Except when he took action.
Take your plane to the park, and away from other people and property.
My dad’s “yard” (80 acres with a half-mile airstrip) is bigger than any park I know of. And the noise of the model airplanes taking off doesn’t bother the cows next door any; they come and look across the fence. (We do have an actual concern that someone’s cow is going to get through a fence break and wander onto the runway, so we check fences before flying.)
This guy wasn’t complaining about the risk of his hypothetical children or property being damaged, he was complaining about the noise frightening his goats. He has no more right to complain about non-excessive noise that he can hear from a neighbor’s property during reasonable hours than he has a right to demand that cars driving by cut their engines and coast so they don’t frighten his goats. The cops aren’t going to do anything to the hypothetically child-killing neighbor’s children, or whoever’s flying the models, unless they’re doing something against the law.
Or he could just stick one of these on the roof. With a firing rate of 4,500 rounds per minute it might freak the goats out a little more than his neighbor’s toy planes, though.
IF it was being flown over my house and bothering my critters and a polite request or discussion did not help, I would by a cheap radio control box and 5 -6 freq. chips or what ever it needed and find which one was the same as the one being used on the offending plane insert that one and ‘help’ them fly it. < veg >
Say nothing (innocent face) and after they had all their planes crash, they might decide that the gremlins in that airspace were not worth fighting…
Airports with nearby congestion have noise abatement procedures. (I can listen to constant F-14 launches easier than model plane engines for hours on end.)
If reasonableness does not work, never come out guns a blazing, get back in the bushes and be nasty from ambush… With a silencer.
It’s been a long time since I’ve played with r/c. Maybe they’re different now, but in my day the radios only had one frequency. (Or range of frequencies – multiple channels for different controls.) You can identify the frequency being used by looking at the colour of the flags on the antenna. Then you just have to get a radio in the same frequency.
Actually I think I would have gone old school on this one ,and suspend some netting between tethered helium filled balloons , no need for fireworks.
Declan
I would not be surprised to find that the kid flying the model airplane had been buzzing the goats, and that is why they were exhausted. Chickens might spook if it just went right over them, not buzzing. I think the police should have had a talk with the parents of the kids, and the man should have videotapped the kid buzzing his livestock. Then he could get help.
RC airplanes DO have rules and they ARE required to follow them. My husband is involved in RC planes, and knows folks who have had their airplanes confiscated for misbehavior.
Well… at our local field young kids are usually on “buddy boxes” where an adult can override their controls when necessary. Control failures do happen from time to time, but if you’re following safe practices regarding distances from people and other objects there won’t be expensive/painful damage. If you’re flying RC in your own yard you are, of course, liable for it crashing into any of your property. For that matter, you’re liable if it crashes into anyone else’s property or person as well. Threat of lawsuits tends to make people more cautious.
The “running out of fuel” is a non-issue. Most RC models can glide to a landing just fine with no damage to anything. In fact, there are RC gliders that have no engine whatsoever - a couple years ago I gave myself one heck of a bruise when the launcher I was using for one broke in my hand.
If they RC flyers were breaking no law and conducting their activities in a non-hazardous manner why should the police do anything? There is nothing to indicate that the flyers were doing anything wrong.
Most parks do not allow RC flying becuase it’s not “away from other people”.
On top of that, the authorities take a dim view of people shooting at anything flying, for much the same reason you’re not allowed to shoot at cars and motorcycles passing your property, even if they’re making noise and disturbing your goats. Not to mention that some folks graduate from shooting small RC models to shooting at full-size small airplanes, which is also frowned upon.
