Empire State Building makes aviation history again

[groundloop]

Source: CBS News

NEW YORK -- A drone crashed into the Empire State Building Thursday night, reports CBS New York.

Sources told the station the suspect was identified as Sean Riddle. He tweeted about the incident: filming w/drone, now its stuck on the empire state building....w/security #backgroundcheck @BlueMalus @johnnypittman

Riddle accidentally crashed the drone into the 40th floor. It then fell and landed on the 36th floor, says CBS New York. He then called building security and asked for his drone back.

He was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and navigation inside the city.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/empire-state-building-makes-aviation-history-again-hit-by-drone/

---

Another idiot with a drone.

[Crepuscular]

1. well,

Last edited Fri Feb 5, 2016, 03:42 PM - Edit history (1)

at least he was not using his to kill innocent women and children. It looks like the only collateral damage was to the drone itself.

[Hoppy]

2. No, you can't have your toy back.

[PoliticAverse]

3. "He then called building security and asked for his drone back." n/t

[yuiyoshida]

4. Ya know, I really wish they would build

a giant statue of King Kong on top of the Empire State Building, that would be so awesome!

[Major Nikon]

5. Now all we need is a King Kong drone to climb the building

Here's the right way to do it

http://vimeo.com/137505096

[PatSeg]

6. A lot of people don't realize

that in 1945 a military bomber flew into the Empire State building.

<On July 28, 1945, residents of New York City were horrified when an airplane crashed into the Empire State Building, leaving 14 dead. Though the events of that day have largely faded from public memory, they remain etched in the minds of those who experienced them.

It was the waning days of World War II, and a B-25 bomber was flying a routine mission ferrying servicemen from Massachusetts to New York City's LaGuardia Airport. The day was foggy. Capt. William F. Smith, who had led some of the most dangerous missions in WWII in Europe, was the pilot.

When Smith arrived in the New York area, the weather was getting worse. He called LaGuardia and requested a clearance to land. With nearly zero visibility, the tower suggested that Smith not land.

"Smith said, 'Thank you very much' and signed off," says Arthur Weingarten, who wrote The Sky Is Falling, about what happened that day. "He ignored it … So he started to make a little bit of a turn that brought him over midtown Manhattan, and as he straightened out, the clouds broke up enough for him to realize he was flying among skyscrapers.">

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92987873

A rather extraordinary story.

[Major Nikon]

7. Even into 1945, flying into the clouds was a bit like the wild west

It wasn't until the Berlin Airlift that instrument flying was refined nearly to the point it is today.

Most airliners don't even land with zero visibility today. Even to get close to zero visibility they are required to have special aircrew training that goes well over and beyond normal instrument flying and stringent equipment requirements that specify triple redundant autopilots. Most people don't realize that in the worst visibility conditions, the pilot isn't flying the plane during the landing phase.

[PatSeg]

10. Also the pilot was rather cocky

Having flown military missions during the war, he didn't think he needed to listen to the Air Traffic Controller and disregarded the controller's advice. To get through the war alive and then fly into the Empire State Building is rather bizarre.

[elljay]

8. Because of this incident

when I first heard my alarm radio reporting a plane hitting the WTC on 9/11, I assumed, through my fog of sleep, that it was another relatively small plane that crashed by accident. When the news mentioned the second plane, I bolted upright and ran for the tv.

While a drone sounds relatively small and innocuous, imagine what would happen if the drone crashed into the building and then fell to the ground. 40 stories of acceleration would turn it into a missile.

[awoke_in_2003]

9. Welcome to DU...

I was at work, and a coworker told me a plane flew into WTC. I thought the same thing- it was an accident. We went to watch TV, and I saw the second one come in. At first I said "I thought they said they didn't have footage of the crash". It took a second or two to figure it out, because I didn't think it possible.