"In a series of test flights conducted over the last nine months, Rockwell Collins and BNSF Railway have demonstrated how UAS are used to perform beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) long linear operations, such as inspecting railway tracks using unmanned aircraft, which can increase safety and efficiency for railroads.
Additionally, through authorization received from the FAA, BNSF is flying without visual observers.
During the flights, BNSF controlled its aircraft utilizing the Rockwell Collins control radio data link network deployed throughout BNSF’s Clovis, N.M., operational subdivision. Using BNSF’s licensed radio spectrum and telecommunications network, the command and control radio automatically detects the best tower-to-aircraft link and manages tower handoffs while maintaining positive aircraft control as the UAS navigates across the range." (snip)
Each one of those missiles costs over $850,000. And we have people with great long moaning threads about how the railroads won’t spring for cameras and canine officers to combat the Awful Scourge That Is Graffiti? Perhaps we can budget them through FEMA to go with all that armor-piercing ammunition they got, and declare the tagging problem a national emergency of some sort… it is certainly more an emergency than, say, the public health hazard from methamphetamine.
Personally, I’m far more in favor of poetic justice – repurpose a few of the big octos now being developed so they carry a pressurized dye payload, like the stuff used in those anti-theft tags for clothing or in bank bags, and have them swoop down to tag the taggers. Subsequent easy recognition, and very difficult to have an alibi (I might think it might drive some traffic to this site: taggers who need to bone up on railfan subjects and lingo to make a creditable case for being where they were at the time…)
Hyperbole might be a better term. Did you think I was unaware of his intent, or did you not read the part of the post after the price in your haste to get that comment out?
