Jared Moya
February 10th, 2006, 12:22 PM
Is Big Brother Coming To Gaston County, NC?
With all the furor surrounding the government's recent deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles along the US-Mexico border (and the resulting TFRs intended to ensure the UAVS don't accidentally slam into a wayward Cessna) it's no surprise one local constabulary's plan to deploy a UAV over its town has given a few people some pause.
http://www.aero-news.net/images/content/general/2006/CyberBug-inflight-0206a_tn.jpg
The Gaston County Police Department will probably be getting some phone calls soon regarding its purchase of a CyberBug, a small, hand-launched, hang-glider-like UAV (right) the department intends to deploy soon on a variety of missions.
From a cost/benefit perspective, it makes sense for Gaston County to employ the UAV. At $30,000 a pop -- including support equipment -- a new CyberBug is far less expensive than a used helicopter or fixed-wing manned aircraft. It also only takes a single "pilot" to fly a CyberBug, and the craft runs on electricity, not avgas.
READ ARTICLE (http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=797c89da-36c6-49d9-abd0-faabbd5a6141)
With all the furor surrounding the government's recent deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles along the US-Mexico border (and the resulting TFRs intended to ensure the UAVS don't accidentally slam into a wayward Cessna) it's no surprise one local constabulary's plan to deploy a UAV over its town has given a few people some pause.
http://www.aero-news.net/images/content/general/2006/CyberBug-inflight-0206a_tn.jpg
The Gaston County Police Department will probably be getting some phone calls soon regarding its purchase of a CyberBug, a small, hand-launched, hang-glider-like UAV (right) the department intends to deploy soon on a variety of missions.
From a cost/benefit perspective, it makes sense for Gaston County to employ the UAV. At $30,000 a pop -- including support equipment -- a new CyberBug is far less expensive than a used helicopter or fixed-wing manned aircraft. It also only takes a single "pilot" to fly a CyberBug, and the craft runs on electricity, not avgas.
READ ARTICLE (http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=797c89da-36c6-49d9-abd0-faabbd5a6141)