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UFOs?

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor

More clickbait from The Drive/ Tyler Rogoway. This one suggests the US is testing some regular old aircraft in the Pacific coming from Tonopah. That, or they just want to clear the airspace for donuts and giggles.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor

The aliens have returned yet again to the SOCAL OPAREAs!

Pretty good research from The Drive on this one. Maybe even better researched than that time they wrote about Brett’s squadron.
Not really, unless you call filling out FOIA requests good research. I've flown extensively in this area. I've also been on diving charters there - many of which anchor on the west side of San Clemente for the night. Perfect place to operate a couple DJI drones, which in my mind is clearly what this is.

I'm kinda surprised @Hair Warrior didn't post this piece. Clearly, he's slacking... or distracted.
 

BigRed389

Registered User
None
Not really, unless you call filling out FOIA requests good research. I've flown extensively in this area. I've also been on diving charters there - many of which anchor on the west side of San Clemente for the night. Perfect place to operate a couple DJI drones, which in my mind is clearly what this is.

I'm kinda surprised @Hair Warrior didn't post this piece. Clearly, he's slacking... or distracted.
I only came across it b/c it was blowing up on SWOwarriors.com.

I’m too lazy to look into the details, but they’ve laid their claims for why they don’t think it’s a DJI drone based on endurance and range. And looking at the overlays of the incidents, they were pretty far from SCI for it to be that. Also...as any helo bubba who made an approach on a ship that didn’t secure its radar can attest - that big ass radar will fuck your shit up if you get too close.
 
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Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I only came across it b/c it was blowing up on SWOwarriors.com.

I’m too lazy to look into the details, but they’ve laid their claims for why they don’t think it’s a DJI drone based on endurance and range. And looking at the overlays of the incidents, they were pretty far from SCI for it to be that. Also...as any helo bubba who made an approach on a ship that didn’t secure its radar can attest - that big ass radar will fuck your shit up if you get too close.
Their assumptions were based on lack of AIS tracks and drone endurance, both of which I challenge as specious. Very easy to operate a small boat in those waters and they're not likely to show up on radar. There were multiple drones reported, so entirely likely that they were taking turns, given the 20-30 minute battery life of most COTS drones. No evidence that any single drone was present for the entire 90 minute incident.

SPY and COTS drones do not operate in the same frequency range, and while EMI is a possibility, we don't know from the story what the DDGs were emitting at the time of the incident.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Just looked at the logbook entries again. The crew referred to them as drones or UAVs... not some mysterious glowing orb in the sky. Seems like they understood what they were dealing with... just not who was operating them.
 

Randy Daytona

Cold War Relic
pilot
Super Moderator
I only came across it b/c it was blowing up on SWOwarriors.com.

I’m too lazy to look into the details, but they’ve laid their claims for why they don’t think it’s a DJI drone based on endurance and range. And looking at the overlays of the incidents, they were pretty far from SCI for it to be that. Also...as any helo bubba who made an approach on a ship that didn’t secure its radar can attest - that big ass radar will fuck your shit up if you get too close.

If the Navy is looking for defense against small drones, perhaps bring Randy Johnson out of retirement and have him stand duty. 20 years ago yesterday....

 

jmcquate

Well-Known Member
Contributor
On a side note: Johnson was really upset about shwacking Tweety. Jeff Kent would make dead bird comments to him, Johnson would get furious with him that it almost came to blows.
 

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
It's like a million monkeys finally typed Shakespeare. Or, in the words of Nassim Taleb, maybe p(baseball-hits-bird) is fat-tailed.
“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe, attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate...oh and that time Johnson hit a bird with a slider...I mean no shit....just poof! All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”
 

Jim123

DD-214 in hand and I'm gonna party like it's 1998
pilot
The bird that flaps twice as fast flaps half as long, and you have flapped so very very brightly, mister seagull.
 
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