One would think the pilot would be professional enough not to fly a manned aircraft into a collision with an unmanned aircraft. Such an extreme display of ineptitude speaks enough on its own; the USAF statement reads pretty tongue-in-cheek to me.
Edit: This appears to be the most opposed/downvoted comment I seem to have ever made on HN without anyone producing a counterargument.
That's a terrible example, why can't it be some random crashing a F-15? In which case I don't see why some random and an USAF pilot should be treated differently. Assuming both had proper permits, of course.
It doesn't surprise me that military pilots aren't afraid of drones. They're not even afraid of flying into a 1000 pound airplane. Maybe if his plane didn't have an ejection seat...
Speaking as a pilot, If there was a NOTAM I can guarantee with 100% certainty an airline pilot would know about it. Also the military doesn’t screw around with this sort of thing, I think the chance is virtually nil they intentionally flew an unmanned aircraft that close to an airliner.
This is a pointless strawman. This is like saying an F-15 on a training exercise crashed and that it's unfair the pilot/crew/USAF wouldn't be treated the same as some random who flew a drone with a gopro over an airport.
This is quite hilarious compared to the actual deaths caused by Boeing MCAS. Nevertheless it is deserved.
Next hilarious bit is that this comment is being downvoted (after ~1 minute of having been posted) :) If you downvote, please have just the small bit of courage to state in a followup comment why you disagree. The (at the moment two²) downvoters of course don't have this courage.
I mean, this isn't even someone toying around with a quad and not realizing there was serious air traffic in the area. They repeatedly ignored the FAA telling them to knock it off with the drones around jumbo jets.
>Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner.
That could be argued to be more intentional than just faffing about.
They're being generous by saying it was merely a lack of competence. If they were in another mood, they could say that their aircraft was deliberately attacked in an act of war.
I think he's suggesting that the FAA regulation he violated was operating the plane in a careless or reckless manner. He did that by intentionally crashing his plane.
I'm amazed that outside a wartime situation that flying a plane like that with a known equipment failure (of that nature especially) was allowed. And if it wasn't allowed, I'm surprised it didn't end up in a grounding of the pilot.
Ai have serious doubts that they would date shoot down the plane, but obviously this is such a wild scenario for a normal pilot that they cannot be blamed for not turning it into a game of chicken
This just reinforces the argument that the pilot is in control, and he can do as he likes. Fly normally, change course, kill everyone... When you step into a plane you put your life in the hands of a pilot.
I'm not an aviation expert, but it's not implausible to me that the propeller is fragile enough to get bent by a stream of jet fuel traveling at fighter-jet speeds.
On the contrary, a mid-air collision that just bends a couple of propeller blades and not the rest of the drone seems like either incredible flying or incredible luck.
I've only heard of two incidents. One was investigated by the NTSB and (IMO) both the pilots of the manned aircraft and the RC aircraft were partially at fault. NTSB report blamed the RC pilot. No injuries but the manned aircraft was damaged, and the RC aircraft destroyed. This occurred at low-level ( < 50 ft) over the runway.
The second was that the small military UAV was blown off course due to changing winds, while a jet was doing a ground power run. The RC aircraft crashed short, with some debris hitting the aircraft wing. UAV operations were authorized, although the Tower controller and Ground (Movement) controller didn't foresee the hazard.
Engines on planes are made to chuck a flock of birds without exploding, i think the plane would have been "fine" (aka no human casualties) even if it did hit the drone.
Assuming it was a quad-copter not an actual military drone.
Edit: This appears to be the most opposed/downvoted comment I seem to have ever made on HN without anyone producing a counterargument.
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