Techdirt. Stories filed under "pilots" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "pilots"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Tue, 21 May 2013 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: Weapons In The Sky Joyce Hung http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110311/01552013459/dailydirt-weapons-sky.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110311/01552013459/dailydirt-weapons-sky.shtml
  • The $1.8 billion prototype Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator was recently launched into the air from a catapult. This marked the first-ever catapult launch of a drone from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. [url]
  • The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, the most advanced stealth fighter jet in history, seems to have a problem with suffocating its pilots during normal flight. Since 2008, pilots would frequently and inexplicably suffer from what appeared to hypoxia -- in one case, a pilot hit a tree while landing and didn't even realize it. The cause of the problem was only recently identified as being due to a faulty valve on the pilots' life-support vest. You'd think that after spending almost $80 billion on these planes, it wouldn't have taken them almost five years to figure this out. [url]
  • After 16 years and billions of dollars, the "Airborne Laser" project -- a 747 jumbo-jet equipped with a powerful laser that can shoot missiles out of the sky -- has finally been scrapped. Cost prohibitive and impractical, the Airborne Laser would likely have cost $92,000/hour to fly if it had worked. [url]
    • If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

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    ]]>     urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110311/01552013459     Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:00:00 PST DailyDirt: Crazy Weapons... Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110203/05040112942/dailydirt-crazy-weapons.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110203/05040112942/dailydirt-crazy-weapons.shtml
  • The ethics of using robots for military operations is getting some attention. Usually, military robots have been assigned to dull, dirty or dangerous jobs -- but now they're being assigned to dispassionate tasks... (aka Terminator-like killing) [url]
  • A hypersonic vehicle could hit a target anywhere on the planet in under an hour. The aerodynamics of hypersonic flight is being studied with real rockets flying through the atmosphere at thousands of miles per hour. [url]
  • US Air Force pilots who control drones are burning out at a concerning rate. Almost 30% of these pilots are showing signs of "clinical distress" as drone patrols increased from 10-15 missions at any given time in 2007 to over 60 now. [url]
  • To discover more interesting tech-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  
    • By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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    ]]>     urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110203/05040112942     Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:00:00 PST DailyDirt: Robotic Planes... Seriously, And Don't Call Me Shirley. Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110208/19473313015/dailydirt-robotic-planes-seriously-dont-call-me-shirley.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110208/19473313015/dailydirt-robotic-planes-seriously-dont-call-me-shirley.shtml
  • Northrop Grumman's X-47B is an autonomous combat aircraft that aims to be launching from and landing on aircraft carriers in a few years. Another trick will be aerial refueling, eliminating the limitation of onboard fuel capacity. [url]
  • Would you believe the CIA developed a dragonfly robot in the 1970s as a super-secret intelligence gathering tool? Would you believe they also developed mobile phones hidden in shoes? Robotic fish? Cone of silence? [url]
  • Last year, a solar-powered plane broke all the non-stop endurance records by flying for a week -- and it could have stayed up indefinitely. Cheap solar planes to replace telecommunication satellites would be a nice next step. [url]
  • The safety of flight automation is being studied -- finding out that both human error and automation errors can cause serious problems. Nobody's perfect. [url]
  • To discover more cool sites about aviation, check out what's currently flying around StumbleUpon. [url]  
    • By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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    ]]>     urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110208/19473313015     Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:07:00 PST Pilot Group Urges Pilots To Refuse Naked Backscatter Scans, And Avoid Groping Pat Downs Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101109/11252211780/pilot-group-urges-pilots-to-refuse-naked-backscatter-scans-and-avoid-groping-pat-downs.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101109/11252211780/pilot-group-urges-pilots-to-refuse-naked-backscatter-scans-and-avoid-groping-pat-downs.shtml refusing to go through one of the "naked" backscatter scanners at the airport, and then refusing to go through a much more invasive "pat down" search as payment for skipping the scanner. Over the last few weeks, airports in the US have stepped up the use of both (though, it should be noted, I'm writing this particular post on an airplane and did not have to go through either such "search" in order to do so). It appears that the pilot in question was not the only one miffed at the rules. Apparently the head of the Allied Pilots Association (which represents American Airlines pilots among others), Dave Bates, has sent out a note to the members complaining about these new security procedures, suggesting that pilots refuse the new scanners, and insist that any additional pat down must be done in private, rather than out in the open. It does seem rather silly to give pilots this kind of treatment since they already pilot the damn plane. If they wanted to do something bad to the plane, they already have the ability to do so.

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    ]]>     you-realize-they-pilot-the-planes,-right? http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101109/11252211780     Wed, 20 Oct 2010 08:37:48 PDT Pilot Not Allowed Through Security After He Refuses 'Naked' Backscatter Scan Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101020/00593911491/pilot-not-allowed-through-security-after-he-refuses-naked-backscatter-scan.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101020/00593911491/pilot-not-allowed-through-security-after-he-refuses-naked-backscatter-scan.shtml record images. Many people, concerned about how these machines operate, have asked not to use them, and there are usually other options. Boing Boing points us to the story of a working, uniformed pilot (working for ExpressJet) who refused to go through the backscatter scanner. After being directed to a normal metal detector, and declared an "opt-out," he was told he needed to be patted down by security. He refused, noting that it was intrusive and that he had made it through the normal metal detector without a problem (the same security review he'd been given for many years as a pilot -- even in that same airport).

    At that point, the TSA got upset, and a bunch of other folks got involved, including the airport police. He was detained, asked all sorts of questions (some he refused to answer), and not allowed to leave when he asked. At one point he was told he was free to leave, but then was stopped again and told he was not allowed to go until he spoke to one more person. The pilot, Michael Roberts, noted during his explanation of what happened that he's actually taught the TSA-mandated security training program at ExpressJet. The whole story is yet another example of security theater in action -- people just doing things because it's on the checklist, not because it makes anyone more secure.
    "What do you mean I 'should know better'? Are you scolding me? Have I done something wrong?"

    "I'm not saying you've done something wrong. But you have to go through security screening if you want to enter the facility."

    "Understood. I've been going through security screening right here in this line for five years and never blown up an airplane, broken any laws, made any threats, or had a government agent call my boss in Houston. And you guys have never tried to touch me or see me naked that whole time. But, if that's what it's come to now, I don't want to enter the facility that badly."


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    ]]>     security-theater http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101020/00593911491