[Pherekydes]

Originally Posted by Doc Ruby

That's great, but pilots cost a little bit more yanno. With drones you can train up an operator in a couple of weeks and off you go.

You realise that the pilots are army officers? They are being paid anyway. May as well give them something useful to do.

[Doc Ruby]

Originally Posted by Pherekydes

You realise that the pilots are army officers? They are being paid anyway. May as well give them something useful to do.

So what you're saying is that they were sitting on their bums doing nothing productive prior to this, or at least nothing of equal or greater value. Which of course raises the question, what do we need them for anyway when a group of minimum wage drone jockeys could do the job instead? Some people would even pay for the experience!

[Pherekydes]

Originally Posted by Doc Ruby

So what you're saying is that they were sitting on their bums doing nothing productive prior to this...

That would be the Daily Mail interpretation of it, I suppose.

[Doc Ruby]

Originally Posted by Pherekydes

That would be the Daily Mail interpretation of it, I suppose.

The daily mail has figured out the use of logic then have they? Hope this revelation doesn't cut into their quota of raunchy starlet gossip stories.

[ejmaztec]

Originally Posted by Randomer.

Its a Cessna not an SR-71.

They were thinking of a U2 but Bono was going to charge too much.

[prinz]

If this was about Brazil using aircraft to spot signs of illegal logging in the Amazon would people still think it hilariously ridiculous? There was an EU directive on protecting our boglands not long ago, and I may be wrong but part of that would involve the state being fined if it didn't live up to the directive, so the cost of throwing up an old Cessna to keep an eye out for industrial level stripping of the boglands could well be a hell of a lot cheaper than the alternative.

I know people like Ming Flanagan and others like to portray the matter as one of the big bad state versus some old lad digging and footing a bit of turf with his tea and ham sandwiches.. but there are also people with heavy machinery etc raping the bogs on a large scale and that should be stopped.

[drunkmonkey]

Originally Posted by prinz

but there are also people with heavy machinery etc raping the bogs on a large scale and that should be stopped.

There called Bord NaMona urban kid.

[The Radiator]

Haha, nice

[prinz]

Originally Posted by drunkmonkey

There called Bord NaMona urban kid.

Nice try, but way off . BnM aren't the only ones out there using machinery to strip large areas.

[mikom]

Originally Posted by prinz

Nice try, but way off . BnM aren't the only ones out there using machinery to strip large areas.

Yeah, they got tired of doing it after the first thousand or so acres.........

[JupiterKid]

I would have taken this for a joke if I didn't see that it was actually real. Let's see - ban smoking on beaches, parks and put airplanes up to catch an aul fella cutting a bit of turf.

This country is going mad.

[oppenheimer1]

Originally Posted by JupiterKid

I would have taken this for a joke if I didn't see that it was actually real. Let's see - ban smoking on beaches, parks and put airplanes up to catch an aul fella cutting a bit of turf.

This country is going mad.

ffs its not the auld fellas they're after. No one cuts turf with a slean these days, its a mechanised almost industrial scale process that destroys all before it.


This is how its done. I bet Ming didn't tell you that.

But of course people will never educate themselves and look beyond the biased headlines.

[K-9]

The ban effects 21 bogs, people do realise that?

This isn't the end of cutting turf forever as some would like to portray it.

[Herrick]

Originally Posted by Doc Ruby

This is why I think we should be investing in those drone things, they must be cheaper than operating a full aircraft, plus they could be used to effectively patrol our own waters, which we can't do now.

I can only imagine the hysterics if that happened though.

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...e-1566358.html

Missing Chad drone may have tried to fly home

An unmanned surveillance drone being used by Irish peacekeepers in Chad which went missing after being deployed in the desert may have tried to fly back to the Curragh, 3000 miles away.

The drone, part of a portable mini Unmanned Aeriel Vehicle (UAV) system, lost contact with base 25 minutes after it was deployed.

It was one of two Irish army drones which have have been put out of commission, at a cost of €70,000.

One theory is that the drone, which is programmed to return to base when contact is severed with its Ground Control Station (GCS), may have still had the co-ordinates of the Curragh camp in its computer programme, rather than the Irish headquarters near Goz Beida in south-eastern Chad. The Israeli-manufactured UAVs, operated by army communications personnel, are used for surveillance, artillery spotting and support for special forces.

At the end of its mission, the Orbiter drone is programmed to enter Return Home Mode, either on a command from its operator or automatically if contact is lost.

The drone then returns to its pre-programmed recovery point and deploys its parachute.

It is feared that during familiarisation and training at the Curragh, the coordinates of the Irish Army camp in Kildare may have been programmed into the drone.

When deployed in the harsh desert terrain in Chad last March, it tried to fly "home" but ran out of battery and crashed into the desert -- about 2,990 miles from its destination.

[prinz]

Originally Posted by Herrick

An unmanned surveillance drone being used by Irish peacekeepers in Chad which went missing after being deployed in the desert may have tried to fly back to the Curragh, 3000 miles away.
When deployed in the harsh desert terrain in Chad last March, it tried to fly "home" but ran out of battery and crashed into the desert -- about 2,990 miles from its destination.

So it runs out of battery power after flying 10 miles? Great drone.