By Patrick May
It was the next-to-the-last game of a second-round match of the US Open featuring Italy’s Flavia Pennetta against Monica Niculescu of Romania.
There was excitement in the air.
Suddenly, there was also a drone in the air.
Not a drone as in “a low continuous humming sound,” but a drone as in America’s latest and more annoying hobby toy.
After buzzing above the court in Louis Armstrong Stadium in Flushing, New York on Thursday night, the black device crashed into a section of – thank god! – empty seats, said U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier, adding that no one was hurt.
And who, you ask, was on the serving end of that drone’s operating control?
Daniel Verley, a 26-year-old New York City teacher, according to police. And what happened to him as a result of crashing his drone into the stadium?
Well, let’s just say that Flavia won and Verley did not, according to ESPN:
Daniel Verley, 26, faces charges of reckless endangerment and operating a drone in a New York City public park outside of prescribed area. He was found at a marina on the opposite side of Citi Field immediately following the incident.
The Associated Press said its calls to the Academy of Innovative Technology, where police say Verley teaches, were not immediately returned.
Get used to more and more breaking drone news. As AthleticBusiness and others have reported, you can expect to see a drone very soon at a sporting event near you! Here’s their headline: “Drones Emerging as Security Threat at Domestic Sporting Events.”
Drones are also coming to your backyard. Was reading a number of comments on this topic, but I can no longer find it online.
Since you’d probably be arrested if you shot one down (just for firing a weapon) you can use a net to toss over the drone if close enough. One comment recommended using a fire extinguisher – again if close enough. Paintballs might work as well. Another non-arresting remedy would be to use a fishing pole and cast a weighted line to bring it down.
Time to go improve my casting skills . . . . .
I don’t know a lot about drones guys. Is there any danger that a toxic/dangerous substance could be delivered via drone over a stadium?
Today’s drone lesson:
http://www.ted.com/talks/vijay_kumar_robots_that_fly_and_cooperate#t-21917
Chemical and biological agents are extremely easy for a drone to drop. The first nasty item that comes to mind is weaponized anthrax. Let that stuff get in the wind and there’s no telling how much damage it could do. It would only take a few ounces of anthrax over a crowded stadium and the death toll could be enormous, but if it caused a panic, well, …you get the idea.
Consider that anyone can buy a drone for under a $1000 that would have up to a half mile range and carry a payload of at least 6-8 ounces of whatever. Most can be setup to be flow from an iPad; uses the onboard camera to see where you’re flying. This means a terrorist doesn’t need a guided missile to kill a passenger jet on landing or take off, they just need a drone or 2 flown into the engine/s. Exploding jet engines throw a lot metal and that’s really bad. That in itself could destroy the plane, but its that loss of power during those critical moments could mean total destruction.
Maybe those sophisticated long range drones (not talking about your every day kids kind of toy) ought to be registered with FAA? I hate registering anything, but in this case it might really be warranted. They had one fly over DC recently in restricted air space and they (secret service) couldn’t stop it. But, if it was registered the owner might have thought twice about doing such a stunt. The FAA does have strict laws against flying anything over DC.
Check out the video from this drone over Washington DC, this was done by a drone costing less than $300: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/this-completely-illegal-drone-footage-of-washington-dc-is-truly-awesome
I was suspected as much. So we’re back to a WMD threat that will be sloughed off as unlikely or silly…until we have another 911.
We can continue to drag this out, leaving much more destruction and death in the wake, or we can eliminate these terrorist *^%#%@& post haste with damage and death kept to the bare minimum! Long suffering sucks…you wouldn’t drag out a treatment for cancer.
Tina, you are so right. If I were prez, I would love to use our might and lead a coalition of allied nations to wipe out ISIS in Syria and Iraq and then go home. Should take about 3-5 weeks to exterminate 99% of them.
Taking out ISIS in a full-on war would be the easiest part, just readying the forces with the plan would be hardest.
This would be a no prisoners war since they are all terrorists and as such, they can be executed in the field, that’s international law. We fight them to the bitter end, no need for any compromises, we just need a clear victory and their total destruction.
The impossible part of the plan is that too many Americans will not sustain support for it…long suffering is the preference but they call it fairness and other lovely inaccuracies.
I didn’t realize that we had international law on our side…thanks for that.