I wish I didn't believe it

[pecunium]

I like toys, and things which go boom, and even "bang" as much as the next guy (heck, perhaps more than most), but it never occured to me to make a Flying .45.

I mean, no; just, no.

A guy took an RC helicopter, fixed a .45 Colt to it, added a video camera (so he could see what it was pointing at), and hooked up an actuator so he could actually fire it, while flying the helicopter.

The mind reels.

Comments

[lonebear.livejournal.com]

I'm waiting to hear the ATFE slapped this idiots' ass in chains.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering how many firings it's going to survive. Seems like a lot of stress on the frame of an RC helicopter.

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

*boggle*

[urox.livejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking. How could he accurately compensate for the recoil?

[tenderberry.livejournal.com]

for a minute I thought the idiot could be a former online friend who has one of those RC helicopter toys and a slew of guns - he's former because he shoots cats that are fighting w/ his cat - apparently not bright enough to be responsible and neuter his male cat - which unfortunately in it's unneutered roamings was hit and killed by a car - can you tell I'm a little peeved at him? and this Simmons twerp -

[slave2tehtink.livejournal.com]

...

What the shit.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I don't know much about the practicalities of such things, but if the strength of the helicopter's frame is a problem, what about a larger helicopter and/or smaller gun? How about a dirigible if you want something quieter?

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

Well, it's apparently a pretty beefy helicopter. If you look at the video, it hardly moves at all when firing. Moreover, with a rigid frame attachment it probably will stay steady long enough to avoid the risks of limp-wristing you'd have in a human shooter anyway.

Wouldn't firing the gun

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

slam the poor dear little RC helicopter thang to the ground?

Re: Wouldn't firing the gun

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

No. The physics of it are such that the recoil probably dips the nose, but that wouldn't be enough to cause it to fall down. It takes a decent amount of lift to get the thing in the air, and recoil is a very transitory event.

[wetdryvac.livejournal.com]

Dear sweet kittens of unhappiness. I can see making remote weapons platforms for military applications, but... while on watching the video that platform is a hell of a lot more stable than expected, I still am more or less appalled.

The accuracy... um... also better than I was expecting...

...and still appalled. I've been party to some robot/RV designs for doing other things, and the points of failure on something that doesn't also happen to be flying are numerous. Here's hoping he doesn't get someone killed. That thing is, in my limited technical opinion, pure idiocy.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Yup. I suppose the .45 is triggered by remote control, but the person who does the triggering is responsible for the bullet, wherever it may go.

[ann-totusek.livejournal.com]

Is this a little less appalling?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GAUnuuBkW4

[sethg]

First hunting big game over the Internet, and now this. Sheesh.

[crazysoph.livejournal.com]

Damn.

Just... damn.

Forgive me for going all miss-paranoid-self-involved, but what if someone tried to use one of these contraptions in earnest? What's the best defense? Hide under a car?

Crazy(er, maybe not, if the shooter manages to hit the gas tank... or have I just seen way too many action films?)Soph

PS sorry about swearing in your journal - it's not what I usually do in a semi-stranger's (that would be me being the semi-stranger) place... still, the mind boggles.

[burger-eater.livejournal.com]

The keyboards of mystery writers all over the world are clacking so loud and fast that it sounds like a low, buzzing hum.

[avatar-jones.livejournal.com]

Hey now,
As a long time aeromodeler and member of the AMA I'm surprised this person is still walking the streets.
Ever since 9-11 we've been fighting with the feds to keep model airplanes legal in the U.S. to the point where the AMA has asked us to turn in anybody who even starts asking about rigging models with guns or bombs.

One idiot like this can make it rough on hundreds if not thousand of otherwise sane model pilots.
I really hope he gets shut down before somebody gets hurt.

It's a crazy time to be a modeler, all the nifty tec available; tiny remote cameras, gps systems, fast computors, all of that combines to make some serious UAVs and MAVs I even have friends in this new industry.
It's great, it's cool, it's going to get us shut down totally if idiots keep pulling this kind of thing. Just what was he thinking?

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about the language, "this is liberty hall, where you can spit on the mat and call the cat a bastard."

The Best Defense: Zig-zag to cover. Diving rolls, sliding stops, sudden changes in velocity. The field of view has to be pretty narrow and the image isn't quite real time. The flattening of perspective, combined with the desire to be "on target" slows people using such remote devices.

The gas tank won't explode. It takes vapors under pressure to get an explosion, and a spark to set of the fuel-air mixture. One shot isn't going to do it (no matter what Michael Paré was able to do in Streets of Fire [which has Willem Dafoe as a great bad guy... the leather suspenderpants are worth the price of admission]),and two would be a freak of nature, akin to being struck by lightning.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Heck, a friend of mine was explaining (18 years ago) about how he was working on feedback systems to use GPS to manuever small planes in three dimensions.

He said they couldn't land, but with what they had; off the shelf, they could use them as cruise missles.

Dude

[killslowly.livejournal.com]

Man, this shit has been done before. Remember the shotgun UAV thing they were researching? I wish I can find the video. And besides, it takes a retard to come up with something marketable that the MIC will buy up and use as standoff weaponry, in order to keep our "boys" "safe".

Sometimes you worry me Terry. I think you post things like this so that you can laugh at the disgusted replies from your "liberated" friends. I think you are a mental pervert LOL, you get off on people's reactions. Kind of like.. you know, ejaculatory diatribes of disgust and hate.

Miss you buddy,

Jerry