Radio Control Jets Flying
Should people be flying radio-controlled airliners over our heads?
last January the people at Boscombe Down research aerodrome in Wiltshire, UK, flew a BAC One-Eleven jetliner purely by radio-control (no pilots).
The 90-seater jet airliner is the size of a DC-9 or a little smaller than the Boeing 757 that crashed into the Pentagon during the 9/11 atrocity.
It was flown over Wiltshire by a pilot sitting in the rear seat of a Tornado (a bit similar to a F-15) attack jet. Does this worry anyone here in the UK and should they be allowed to fly a jetliner by remote control over our heads?
This is a serious question and not a Dale Brown novel plot.
It is all about fighting a war from a distance using robot planes – fair enough I guess. But what if that jetliner stuffed in on a town or village?
Well lets face the facts here.
1. That aircraft is one of dozens that fly over your head every day.
2. The aircaft is carrying no passengers, thus less mass (around 25 – 50 tonnes)and less energy to transfer to an unfortunate on whom it crashes.
3. Air travel is the safest form of transportation around. You are far more likely to be involved in a car crash than be involved in an airliner crash.
My advice, worry more about cars driving through your loungeroom than a single aircraft overhead.
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