back to article Drone's drug airdrop mission ends in failure for Irish prisoners

An audacious quadcopter mission to deliver drugs to inmates at Dublin's Wheatfield Prison ended in failure earlier this week when the drone hit wires designed to prevent helicopter landings. According to the Irish Independent, the drone crashed in the prison's yard at around 11am on Tuesday bearing its narcotic payload. The …

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  1. fridaynightsmoke
    Boffin

    Define "drone"

    Now, was this actually a drone? I would have thought that a true drone would be capable of independent flight with minimal control. Would it still be a drone if controlled directly by an operator using a live feed from a camera? What would the name for that be, other than "sophisticated remote-control helicopter"?

    1. Rob

      Re: Define "drone"

      "Would it still be a drone if controlled directly by an operator using a live feed from a camera?" That would also apply to the military use of drones as well then.

      I think you need to recognise that the use of the word drone in modern language means a semi autonomous vehicle that has an operator for remote use (or words to that effect). We tend to bastardise our words once the media has got hold of them (e.g. hacker, what it means now isn't quite what the word originally described). Sorry what I should have said was the media bastardise our words and batter us with them so much that their original meaning ends up being lost.

      1. fridaynightsmoke

        @Rob

        "the word drone in modern language means a semi autonomous vehicle that has an operator for remote use"

        That's just the thing, I thought that the military drones had significant latency in the control/feedback system, such that moment-to-moment flying was controlled by the drone itself, under the high level command of the operator. Which would be the 'semi-autonomous' bit.

        I'm just trying to see where the lie of the land is with regards to 'drone' at the moment, that's all :)

        1. phil dude
          Black Helicopters

          Re: @Rob

          I have heard that the military control their drones from a bunker in Utah or somewhere else secret.

          The point being Afghan border or Iraq is still a bit of latency, since I know the time-of-flight for light between 2 US national labs is 32ms....

          We need black quadcopter icon...

          P.

          1. phuzz Silver badge
            Black Helicopters

            Re: @Rob

            "I have heard that the military control their drones from a bunker in Utah or somewhere else secret"

            They can be controlled from pretty much anywhere, and from what I understand local pilots will handle the take off and landing on the base in (eg) Afghanistan, and then then they'll be taken over by pilots back in the US, often out of Nevada, near Las Vegas. The RAF also uses the same facilities.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: @Rob

              "and from what I understand local pilots will handle the take off and landing on the base"

              For the air forces, yes. And historically this results in quite a few accidents. The US army on the other hand aren't guided by any stupid ideas of officer pilots existing as superior beings, and their NCO drone controllers routinely allow their drones to take off and land themselves. The RAF has been following the USAF model, unfortunately, so presumably we'll be paying for a few broken Taranis until the RAF wise up to the idea that the whole point of a UAV is the U bit.

              My knowledge on this is rusty and dated. Where's Matt Bryant when we need him?

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @fridaynightsmoke

          The reason military drones are able to handle the mundane tasks of flight is because operators often control more than one.

          If latency were the only issue, the US has bases all over the world, as well as ships at sea, so they could get pretty close to the drones for nearly any operation. I think they fly most of them out of Nevada though.

          1. Scroticus Canis

            Re: @fridaynightsmoke

            Think most of the military control is via satellite link which would typically be a geostationary one at ±35786km up, so for a single satellite the signal travel time would be ±120ms each way Add in the electronics delays and that you probably will be bouncing off at least two satellites then at least triple that for the minimum latency, probably much more though.

    2. No, I will not fix your computer

      Re: Define "drone"

      Drone is rather a generic term (but quite accurate in it's use as a generic term), if you're looking for something more specific there's two (overlapping) categories;

      UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (the umbrella drone term)

      RPV - Remotely Piloted Aircraft (closer to the control you mean)

      But of course neither of these terms are fully satisfactory in answering your question, because within these there's;

      MITL - Man in the loop (piloting)

      MOTL - Man on the loop (destination waypoint with viewing, simple drop, return to base functions)

      FA - Fully Automated (considered as issue orders and return, but may include abort functionality)

      But these terms could be a bit fuzzy depending on the system in place, and even cover multiple definitions, it sounds like in this case it was a MITL/RPV drone.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Define "drone"

        Another one for you:

        RPAS - Remotely Piloted Aeronautical System

        The trem UAV is mostly used for the big military systems (e.g. REAPER); smaller systems prefer the term RPAS since it has not had much bad press (yet).

        1. FartingHippo
          Devil

          Re: Define "drone"

          What, may I ask, is wrong with "robocopter" and "robojet"? Is this or is this not the 21st Century? Hmm?

    3. Stevie

      Re: Define "drone"

      It's the male of a variety of insect species, chiefly bees, whose sole purpose in life is to screw its brains out on demand with HM Queen.

      Or so I was taught.

      Not sure how either Irish Dealer Helicopters or remote controlled and heavily armed model aeroplanes figure into that scheme to be honest.

      1. Martin Budden Silver badge

        Re: Define "drone"

        A drone is actually a rich idle young gentleman who is a member of a club located in Dover Street, London.

  2. AF

    Hi-spec drone? Doubt it.

    " It was a high spec drone with a high spec camera through which the operators could monitor the route it was taking."

    Translation: It was a Phantom 2 Vison, probably. Available off-the-shelf and dead easy to set up and fly. Uses a phone as the remote screen to view the flight, which would explain why they didn't see the anti-chopper wires.

    1. Don Jefe

      Re: Hi-spec drone? Doubt it.

      Don't lose sight of the fact that law enforcement calls people who use a computer where someone else has left and stayed logged in to be hackers. They like hyperbole.

  3. joeW

    The anti-helicopter wires it hit

    There's an interesting backstory to why they're installed in the first place.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountjoy_Prison_helicopter_escape

    1. Ross K Silver badge
      Black Helicopters

      Re: The anti-helicopter wires it hit

      Theat was 40 years ago, but those crazy Canucks still doing it today:

      http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/quebec-police-search-for-3-inmates-after-helicopter-jailbreak-1.2668653

      Black helicopter icon seems appropriate...

      1. wowfood

        Re: The anti-helicopter wires it hit

        So THATS what that's meant to be a picture of.

        All this time I thought it was some kind of scorpion.

    2. Valeyard

      Re: The anti-helicopter wires it hit

      I was just about to post that :)

      I've been to that prison (not as an inmate)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The anti-helicopter wires it hit

        "I've been to that prison (not as an inmate)"

        Alright, you were a "guest". Long term or short?

  4. HippyFreetard

    Hm.

    Needs a release switch. Then it would drop the package silently from above.

    Er, I mean, how terrible of them etc...

    1. Don Jefe

      Re: Hm.

      The fact it didn't have such an apparatus is proof the R/C model wasn't very advanced and the transmitter had no extra channels for accessories. People have been dropping stuff from R/C models for a very long time.

    2. Lyndon Hills 1

      Re: Hm.

      Needs a release switch. Then it would drop the package silently from above.

      For some reason I'm immediately reminded of El Regs' Special Projects Bureau. When the LOHAN flight is completed, perhaps this is an area for further research?

      1. DropBear
        Devil

        Re: Hm.

        Needs a release switch. Then it would drop the package silently from above.

        yup, and if the operators have any sense of humour, they should clearly label the craft Raisin Bomber...

  5. Ben Bonsall

    Slammerzon direct...

  6. chivo243 Silver badge
    Coat

    Has to be said..

    Only users loose drugs....

    It's a warm day, won't be needing a coat!

    1. tony2heads

      Re: Has to be said..

      s/loose/lose/

      FTFY

      1. foo_bar_baz

        Re: Has to be said..

        They lost the drugs because they didn't loose them from above.

      2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: Has to be said..

        "s/loose/lose/"

        Wrong. The guy swallowed them. He has to loose them to get them out. The OP was correct.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just drop the damn thing when above the point you want to be above...

    Why suspend the drugs from a rope that the prisoners have to catch? Surely just add a button linked to a solenoid that, when activated, will disengage the payload and allow gravity to drop it directly below the craft. That way, you don't need to fly lower than 50ft above the ground.

    1. JimmyPage Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: Just drop the damn thing when above the point you want to be above...

      These are criminals. Hardly the sharpest tools in the box to start with. The fact that some of their number were *inside* the jail rather underscores the point.

      If they were capable of design and build as described, they wouldn't be criminals.

      1. phil dude
        Coat

        Re: Just drop the damn thing when above the point you want to be above...

        yes of course. I mean, they could plant the prison garden to be a giant QR code target, needing no direction at all....!

        P.

        1. Lyndon Hills 1

          Re: Just drop the damn thing when above the point you want to be above...

          yes of course. I mean, they could plant the prison garden to be a giant QR code target, needing no direction at all....!

          Or even just plant dope in the prison garden, and save all the other grief.

    2. HippyFreetard
      Pirate

      Re: Just drop the damn thing when above the point you want to be above...

      Yeah, that's what I was thinking, some sort of electromagnet. Would need an extra channel for remote control, or some sort of time-delay could be set up. Or some sort of movement-triggered thing, like a sudden sideways lurch that knocks a loop of string off a hook. You could also just see how long a battery lasted and time it to that.

      Sounds like a Kickstarter project.

      "Give us £100,000 for our great new startup, BuzzMulez.onion"

      Is Steve Bong about? I need a venture capitalist of his calibre to pull this off...

      1. Cynic_999

        Re: Just drop the damn thing when above the point you want to be above...

        Multirotor controllers can already be programmed to actuate a release mechanism upon the momentary application of 2 specific (unusual) control movements of the primary flight channels (so not needing an additional R/C channel), and several types of release mechanism are available off-the-shelf from hobby shops for under £10. The parts for a DIY quadcopter with FPV camera, GPS navigation and +/- 15 minute endurance will cost around £120 for the flying bits, and about another £150 for the ground equipment (R/C transmitter, video Rx, video screen). I know 'cos I recently built one.

    3. Tom 35

      Re: Just drop the damn thing when above the point you want to be above...

      I expect this was an off the shelf RC toy (toys can be expensive and still be toys) and I don't think I've seen one with a "drop stuff" function as some idiot would think it was a good idea to drop darts or something like that on people.

      You could add it, but that would require skill knowledge.

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  9. Ken 16 Silver badge
    Trollface

    Amazon advertise it but Dublin scobes make it happen

    I wonder how long before 'fulfilled by skangers' becomes a service?

  10. ItsNotMe
    Headmaster

    If I may...

    drone 1 (drn)

    n.

    1. A male bee, especially a honeybee, that is characteristically stingless, performs no work, and produces no honey. Its only function is to mate with the queen bee.

    2. An idle person who lives off others; a loafer.

    3. A person who does tedious or menial work; a drudge: "undervalued drones who labored in obscurity" (Caroline Bates).

    4. A pilotless aircraft operated by remote control.

    [Middle English, from Old English drn.]

    drone 2 (drn)

    v. droned, dron·ing, drones

    v.intr.

    1. To make a continuous low dull humming sound: "Somewhere an electric fan droned without end" (William Styron).

    2. To speak in a monotonous tone: The lecturer droned on for hours.

    3. To pass or act in a monotonous way.

    v.tr.

    To utter in a monotonous low tone: "The mosquitoes droned their angry chant" (W. Somerset Maugham).

    n.

    1. A continuous low humming or buzzing sound.

    2. Music

    a. Any of the pipes of a bagpipe that lack finger holes and produce a single tone.

    b. A long sustained tone.

    c. Any of various instruments that produce only a constant pitch.

    [From drone (from the bee's humming sound).]

    The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

    1. HippyFreetard
      Trollface

      Re: If I may...

      Well you've certainly provided an excellent definition of a drone.

    2. Don Jefe

      Re: If I may...

      Isn't that definition a bit lacking? The military calls their drone operators pilots. The (US at any rate) military also makes the distinction that drones can operate without a pilot, although remote control is an option. The reconnaissance aircraft that require continuous pilot input aren't called drones, as they can't do anything by themselves.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: If I may...

        "The (US at any rate) military also makes the distinction that drones can operate without a pilot,"

        Surely the only distinction is that a drone doesn't carry an onboard pilot?

        Manned craft can take off, route and land based on just a flight computer programme, whilst the meat sacks doze and talk about football or whatever (or they can fly by the seat of the pants if they so choose). And a drone needs somebody to take the decisions and programme the route parameters, whilst allowing (usually) full manual control. The only real difference is that the drone operator is remote, and rarely pays for his or the machine's failings with a pound of their own flesh, whereas the on board pilot has (quite literally) skin in the game.

    3. ItsNotMe
      Happy

      Re: If I may...

      Pardon me...forgot one other definition for drone...and that would be what emanates from the mouths of every politician on the planet.

  11. lawndart

    says:

    The drugs. Were they from the Amazon region?

  12. TheProf
    FAIL

    String 'em up.

    If they just dump the drugs in the yard for the inmates to pick up (what are the guards doing?) why not use a trebuchet? Much classier if you arrange for the Sealed Knot to be performing in the area.

  13. Midnight

    It's like a bicycle with hand warmers.

    Wouldn't it have been much easier, cheaper and safer to have simply used a catapult?

    1. Martin Budden Silver badge

      Re: It's like a bicycle with hand warmers.

      At the prison nearest to me, tennis balls filled with whatever are hit from outside into the recreation yard with a tennis racket at night time. The inmates simply collect the balls when they take their morning stroll. Much easier and cheaper. Possibly not safer, because the hitter must stand very close to the prison (which is surrounded by miles of open grassland).

  14. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
    Coat

    So, drone dropped drugs dumped down dunny?

    Coat ------------------>

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