# Stay Outta My Airspace!!! Yaaahh! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 26, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984 "2006-03-26T19:31:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/1 "2006-03-26T19:31:00Z")
Apparently, somebody is really, really serious about defending himself from enemy aircraft. Even if they’re _model_ aircraft. [http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060325/D8GI8UUO0.html](http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060325/D8GI8UUO0.html) > [@](#): > > CHELSEA, Mich. (AP) - A man has been sentenced to six months’ probation for shooting at his neighbor’s radio-controlled model airplanes with a shotgun. > > David Nuttle, 41, of Washtenaw County’s Webster Township, pleaded guilty to one count of malicious destruction of property worth less than $200, a misdemeanor. Perhaps he thought it was Al Qida, coming back for another bite. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Nuttle used a .410-gauge shotgun to shoot at the planes. He said his shots hit only one plane, causing two tiny holes in it. The plane he is paying for crashed when the child who was operating it lost control of it after being frightened by the shots, Nuttle said. > > Nuttle told the judge he regretted his actions. > > “I felt I was defending my family and my property from these airplanes, and I called police several times,” he said. “But I made a bad decision that day and I realize that.” **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.) Second, there is a _ **reason** _ they make _decaf_!! ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/2 "2006-03-26T20:33:24Z")
Bah. He doesn’t take defending his airspace anywhere near seriously enough. He needs to get one of [these](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIM-92_Stinger), though getting one of [these](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SA-18_Grouse) on the black market might be easier. Personally, I think it’s worth spending the extra cash to get one of [these](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIM-104_Patriot). ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/3 "2006-03-26T20:38:16Z")
Oops, posted too soon. I guess to take out model airplanes, all you really need is one of [these](http://www.estesrockets.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi?view,378). ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/4 "2006-03-26T20:44:36Z")
I’d have used one of [these](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Slingshot_%28weapon%29.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/5 "2006-03-26T20:56:55Z")
We have inadvertently created a new sport: **Xtreme RC Model Aviation** … Although to make it legal in certain places, we’d need two versions: one that uses paintball as the ground-to-air weapons, and one with shotguns. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/6 "2006-03-26T21:10:55Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/7 "2006-03-26T22:14:50Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > First, I now know what gauge shotgun one _uses_ to hunt model airplanes. _Always nice to know_. 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](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_%28bore_diameter%29) DOES work for anti-(model) aircraft defense–would a 20-gauge do, or would you need to go on up to a 12-gauge? ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/8 "2006-03-26T22:21:55Z")
Personnally, I would use one of [these](http://members.aol.com/BLKort/jpg/quad50.jpg) . Should be enough, after all they aren’t flying that high (as a bonus it would make a nice anti-personnel deterrent). ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/9 "2006-03-27T04:00:27Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/10 "2006-03-27T04:15:09Z")
Nevermind, I see that **Quartz** already brought it up. ---
**Author:** ![Corrvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@Corrvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corrvin)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/11 "2006-03-27T04:36:54Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > 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_. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/12 "2006-03-27T04:45:30Z")
> [@Corrvin](#): > > 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. Goats, yes. But what do you make of the rest of the quote? > [@](#): > > “ **I felt I was defending my family and my property from these airplanes** , and I called police several times,” he said. “But I made a bad decision that day and I realize that.” > > Nuttle told The Ann Arbor News after the hearing that the planes have been a nuisance to his family, scaring his children, spooking his chickens and causing his goats to faint from exhaustion. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/13 "2006-03-27T04:47:01Z")
Also, you mean to tell me that there isn’t a time and place for RC planes? ---
**Author:** ![wheelie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b4bc9f/32.png) [@wheelie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheelie)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/14 "2006-03-27T18:58:34Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Bah. He doesn’t take defending his airspace anywhere near seriously enough. He needs to get one of [these](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIM-92_Stinger), though getting one of [these](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SA-18_Grouse) on the black market might be easier. Personally, I think it’s worth spending the extra cash to get one of [these](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIM-104_Patriot). Or he could just stick one of [these](http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/weaps/mk-15.htm) 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. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/15 "2006-03-28T06:07:41Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/16 "2006-03-28T06:18:01Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > **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 \> 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. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/17 "2006-03-28T07:07:15Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > 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.) 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 ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/18 "2006-03-28T07:28:25Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![thursday\_next](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@thursday\_next](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thursday_next)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/19 "2006-03-28T08:38:33Z")
Maybe he just owns [fainting goats](http://www.rfaintingfarm.com/history.htm) and didn’t realize it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984/20 "2006-03-28T10:52:58Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Am I the only one who sees this as justified? If big planes have to follow rules, why shouldn’t RC ones? 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. > [@](#): > > 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? 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. > [@](#): > > He called the cops, and it appears as if they did _nothing_. Except when he took action. 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. > [@](#): > > Take your plane to the park, and away from other people and property. 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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stay-outta-my-airspace-yaaahh/349984.md?page=2)