He should have asked Kim Rhode

Randall of xkcd.com ponders an interesting question and misses the, to me, obvious answer:

A wedding-photography drone is buzzing around above you. You don’t know what it’s doing there and you want it to stop.

Let’s suppose you have a garage full of sports equipment— baseballs, tennis rackets, lawn darts, you name it. Which sport’s projectiles would work best for hitting a drone? And who would make the best anti-drone guard? A baseball pitcher? A basketball player? A tennis player? A golfer? Someone else?

If I could have any sports professional to clear the skies around my property of private drones I would engage Kim Rhode. Some number 7-1/2 shot, launched at a fairly high angle, wouldn’t be much of a risk to neighbors or their property but it would permanently neutralize small drones.

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11 thoughts on “He should have asked Kim Rhode

  1. Why destroy the drone when you could hod it for ransom? Check out this video. A little long at 9 minutes but just jump to the last minute for the results.

    • That’s cool but the cost of training and maintenance would appear to be higher when needed in many locations. Assuming, of course, that casual shooters, and not Olympic Gold Medal winners, are all that is required to be successful with a shotgun.

      • Falconers are generally very wealthy and do it for fun, or very poor, and do it for the pigeon meat.

  2. Fuel-air explosive? As in, a hydrogen filled balloon on a long string, fitted with a spark source like a BBQ igniter.

    • It would have to be a little more complicated than that. Pure hydrogen, in the absence of oxygen or other oxidizer won’t ignite from a spark. If it has much oxygen mixed in it then it won’t have much, if any, lifting power.

  3. Seems the legal penalty for shooting down drones is the same as for shooting at manned aircraft.

  4. Randall Munroe is a cartoonist and always tries to have a humorous ending to his cartoons on XKCD. A shotgun with birdshot would be just too effective, and where’s the humor in that?

    Would the net be considered shooting it down?
    I like the story about saying you have a 14 year old daughter who suns herself in the yard, so you immediately thought “Pervert Voyeur” .

    Holding them for ransom like that guy in San Diego did with the Bird and Lime Scooters might be the way to go.
    What about a drone that is shaped like an airplane and has a metal propeller? I’m thinking Sturmovik here. Ooops, I collided with it.

  5. Or you could use a bait net or any kind of net. Even one made out of yarn. Launching is the issue but someone will work it out.

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