"We finally flew our first thermal camera flight yesterday afternoon. About 10 seconds after launch my co pilot looked at the screen and said something like, 'We now have our very own predator drone'" A rice farmer in Louisiana had a real problem, feral pigs were coming out of the woods at night, into the rice fields, tearing up his crops and causing
thousands of dollars worth of damage. The only solution is to bring in hunters to shoot the pigs.
Hunting feral pigs in waist high rice plants, in the dead of night, is very difficult. You have to be within 10 feet of them to shoot them and it can take hours to stalk them down. So the farmer calls his brother, an Electronic Warfare engineer who flies
RC airplanes as a hobby.
$5000 worth of electronics, including a
$4500 infrared camera, are installed on a $80 model airplane, and the
Dehogaflier is born!
posted by smoothvirus
on Oct 18, 2011 -
52 comments
The largest model railway layout in the world, Hamburg's
Miniatur Wunderland has been featured here
before. Featuring areas modelled on real life attractions, it also is home to the fictional town of
Knuffingen where the 200,000 mini-inhabitants are very much looking forward to the opening of their new
airport.
[more inside]
posted by jontyjago
on Feb 12, 2011 -
15 comments
Early in the days of
exploration of Antarctica, Australian geologist
Douglas Mawson turned down an invitation to join Robert Falcon Scott's
Terra Nova Expedition in 1910 (
Cool Antarctica previously). Instead, Mawson lead his own expedition, the
Australasian Antarctic Expedition (December 1911 to December 1913), an expedition to chart the 2000-mile coastline directly south of Australia, one of the least-visited parts of the continent throughout the early years of Antarctic exploration.
The group's efforts and activities are well documented, and many remnants of the expedition remain on Antarctica.
The conservation of Mawson's Huts is now an ongoing effort from
Association of Australasian Palaeontologists (AAP)
Mawson's Huts Foundation. While most efforts were focused on the recovery and treatment of artifacts inside the main hut, the group also searched for the
Vickers (
Aviation)
monoplane that was modified to become an "air tractor", or motorized sledge. The remains of the plane were last seen in 1975.
Now the plane has been found, thanks to an exceptionally low tide and a bit of luck.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Jan 5, 2010 -
11 comments
I now know what to do in case I ever got stuck on an airplane that's not going anywhere- organize and stage a revolt, like the passengers of Continental flight 1669.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero
on Aug 16, 2007 -
82 comments
Bored at the office? Put some of that paper to good use: make some
paper airplanes. Those two links should keep you busy for a few days
(be sure to try out Nick's Plane. Possibly the best paper plane there is. Thank you Nick, who ever you are..), but if you're looking for something a little flash, you could try folding one of
these.
posted by slipperywhenwet
on Aug 23, 2002 -
18 comments
