Submitted by Robert T. Dingley, Nov 2, 2006 14:16

DHS used unmanned aircraft over Nevada last year. They had to EXCLUDE civil air traffic in the airspace in order to legally operate their unmanned aircraft . US airports were affected. Not a problem in combat zones. Would you stand for this over New York? This was ended because of the impact on civil aviation.

Manned aircraft are available "off the shelf" at less than tenth of the cost of PREDATORS and they can be equiped the same as unmanned aircraft. Manned aircraft do not conflict with civil aviation because they have the ability to "see and avoid" and obey Federal Aviation Regulations dealing with "right of way" rules. Again, not a problem in areas where civil aircraft need to be excluded in order to employ drones.

It takes a team of of about 30 technicians to support an unmanned aircraft. The same team could support more than a half dozen manned aircraft, providing greatly expanded coverage at a fraction of the cost.

I am a retired military/commercial pilot and do some aviation consulting.

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