Pilotless airplane! Drone! Drone!

Man, it's a good thing we only write about "piloted drones", right? Check out this voicemail the San Francisco Chronicle received from a reader who got WAY too bent out of shape over the paper's use of the phrase "pilotless drone" in the sub-title of an article about UAVs.

P.S. - Someone please remix this.

[Via reddit]

LISTEN

[Ender @ Jan 27th 2007 4:34PM]

The robots are taking over!!!!!1!!!

[Brad C @ Jan 27th 2007 4:35PM]

Hahaha what a loser.

[bob @ Jan 27th 2007 4:36PM]

omg you high school dropout !!! lol

[Cory @ Jan 27th 2007 4:46PM]

Not only was the guy and ass, he was wrong too. "Drone" doesn't mean pilotless, it means remotely controlled. Hence, it's piloted, but the pilot just isn't in the plane. A pilotless drone (through extension of the definition) would be a UAV that is autonomous. So, the Predator would be a drone, and the Global Hawk would be a pilotless drone.

[Richard Lai @ Jan 27th 2007 8:13PM]

To: Cory @ Jan 27th 2007 4:46PM

Hmm... according to the Collins Dictionary you're half right and half wrong:

http://www.collins.co.uk/wordexchange/Sections/DicSrchRsult.aspx?word=drone

drone

1. a male bee in a colony of social bees, whose sole function is to mate with the queen
2. Brit a person who lives off the work of others
3. a pilotless radio-controlled aircraft

I think the real problem is our definition of "pilotless". In this case, it means the absence of a pilot on the aircraft. So the man on the phone has a point, but we all know that it was a pointless phone call.

But you know what this means? All RC model aircrafts are drones too.

[Jypson @ Jan 27th 2007 4:47PM]

Skynet eh?

[Rohit Kapur @ Jan 27th 2007 4:49PM]

Doesn't he sound a lot like Comic Book Guy?

[Paul @ Jan 27th 2007 4:49PM]

Okay, I'll bite so everyone can flame me later. Drone is a bad word and unclear in my eyes. There is a reason that the military uses the term UAV, they are unmanned. That doesn't mean they are not piloted, just that the pilot is not seated in it.
Other craft are true drones and fly their entire mission without human interaction. The irate caller isn't wrong just a bit uptight. The problem comes from the talking heads on TV calling all UAVs "drones". The predator variant shown is most likely a UAV of the remotely piloted kind so it is not a drone.
Bottom line is do you accept 'common usage' i.e. the great killer of grammar, or do you waste half your day correcting people.

[Cory @ Jan 27th 2007 7:40PM]

Sorry Paul, but you're wrong. Drones can be piloted. Like the QF-4, a drone variant of the F-4 Phantom. Here's an excerpt from a article put out by the USAF.
"...delivered the 200th QF-4 drone this spring to Tyndall AFB, Fla., where it will be flown as a remote-controlled aerial target."
Note how the DRONE is REMOTE-CONTROLLED.

[Huleboeren @ Jan 27th 2007 4:57PM]

Pilotless airplane pilotless airplane pilotless pilotless airplane not pilotless drone drone drone drone drone but...

:D:D:D

[jdross @ Jan 27th 2007 5:14PM]

Anyone seen The Aviator? Deja Vu?

[The Dude @ Jan 27th 2007 5:36PM]

Poor guy. Ah well, you can't blame him, that's what happens to ya when you live in San Fransisco.

[T-1000 @ Jan 27th 2007 5:41PM]

The plane in question is NASA's Altair, a Predator B variant, which requires a pilot for takeoff and landing but flies most of its mission autonomously. Anyway, the most advanced UAVs still require quite a lot of mission planning and must be told exactly where to fly - by pilots - hence the preference for the term "unmanned." UNMANNED AIRCRAFT! UNMANNED YOU HIGHSCHOOL DROP OUT!

[Bucik Roberts @ Jan 30th 2007 1:22PM]

I want one. That thing is cool. So if it were pilotless doesn't that mean it is a drone. Or Vise versa. Unmanned plane save lives. Buck Roberts

[Shibathedog @ Jan 28th 2007 7:35PM]

I hope this becomes a fad on YTMND if it hasnt already

[TheCanadianGeek @ Jan 27th 2007 6:02PM]

I thought that guy just droned on too long about it.

[1100RS @ Jan 27th 2007 6:26PM]

Oh my God. Just imagine a life that could lead you to uncontrolled bleating at an answering machine. I am envisioning the poor guy surrounded by newspapers in his elderly mother's basement. Face convered in stuble and wearing thick glasses and a wife-beater tank. A former high school english teacher, angry at the world...

[granny down east @ Jan 27th 2007 6:29PM]

Nah, he's on drugs. Antidepressants or something.
Control freak.

[a_marine @ Jan 27th 2007 7:06PM]

This guy is a moron! Im currently in Iraq, we have many uav's in use (i have to listen to them 24 hrs a day, they launch right next to me). some of these uav's have pilots that fly them via remote controls, others are pilotless, they have a flight plan and dont require any human interaction. this is why you shouldnt try and correct anyone that works in any media environment, if your stupid enough, you will be made quite public.

[strider_mt2k @ Jan 27th 2007 7:02PM]

While we're on the subject I'd like to object to the word "Syndrome" as it isn't necessarily a syn drome around in.

[Waltzon @ Jan 27th 2007 7:04PM]

Wow. If you have nothing better to do than to sit around and make completely useless and uninformed criticism you have to have a lot of chutzpah to rail on someone who has a paying job.

[Dave's Football Blog @ Jan 27th 2007 7:51PM]

Reuben "Pilotless" Droughns was not available for comment...

[Jordy @ Jan 27th 2007 8:18PM]

Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone! Drone!

Is it starting to sink into your thick skull?

[William @ Jan 27th 2007 9:19PM]

KOFF(pat)KOFF

[Dan S @ Jan 27th 2007 9:29PM]

UAV is more accurately termed by the military as an **Uninhabited** Aerial Vehicle, as it is "manned" but not in the local sense.

"Unmanned" Aerial Vehicles was a term coined by journalists who found the military term unwieldy.

As for whether or not "pilotless drone" is a correct term -- the Air Force would seem to think so, as target drones, such as the QF-4 or QF-106, when flown unmanned (yes, they can be piloted from the cockpit for non-live-fire flights) are termed NULLO (not under live, local operator).

[Austin @ Jan 27th 2007 9:38PM]

So, just a question. Why is it called a drone to begin with. The definition has become that of an "an unmanned aircraft or ship guided by remote control"(M-W.com) but why was it originally called a drone?

Is it because of the monotonous noise that it makes in the air? It is because it lives off the labors of others? Or is it because it has similarities to that of a worker bee? If you were to go back to the definition prior to it being commonly known as an unmanned aircraft, then it might not be considered all that wrong to say "pilotless drone".

[Cory @ Jan 27th 2007 10:12PM]

It's a drone because it's controlled by an external intelligence and unable to make choices of it's own.

[Lexan @ Jan 27th 2007 10:13PM]

http://rattattree.com/djpalmtree/lexan-mr_howe.mp3

the remix :(

[Tom @ Jan 27th 2007 10:30PM]

Make a remix on your phone in realtime...
http://www.whooptones.com

I made a "Pad" of this... couldn't help myself. It's the featured pad... Check it out. :)

[tchiseen @ Jan 27th 2007 11:39PM]

Whenever I see a grammatical or spelling mistake on major websites, I often endeavor to let them know. CNN.com and ESPN.com are pretty good about how one may write in and correct errors. Publications SHOULD not contain ANY mistakes, however innane they may seem. Too bad he's crazy as!

[zkam @ Feb 2nd 2007 10:42AM]

tchiseen:

You spelled "inane" wrong, and your last sentence is grammatically incorrect.

[Raz 4 life @ Jan 28th 2007 12:46AM]

Woo! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jh47UQYQFk

Teh Remix!

[Z @ Jan 28th 2007 7:28AM]

Assuming that this wasn't a joke, it's a real shame. This man has some serious anger, resentment, and unforgiveness issues and needs to seek counseling and spiritual deliverance immediately. He's wound up so tight that he's at risk of hurting someone else or dying from a heart attack.

We're not designed to shoulder that kind of stress ongoing, which he seemingly has.

[djbizze @ Jan 28th 2007 9:18AM]

Drone remix, ala Dig Your Own Hole by Chemical Brothers

http://rapidshare.com/files/13787078/Pilot_Your_Own_Drone.mp3.html

[djbizze @ Jan 28th 2007 9:20AM]

Oops, accidentally deleted the link. Here's a new link.

http://rapidshare.com/files/13788090/Pilot_Your_Own_Drone.mp3.html

[Edward Karabinus @ Jan 28th 2007 1:10PM]

Check out this remix I made.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/1b4261

[James @ Jan 28th 2007 1:55PM]

Its a Borg drone, is that youtube video available as a ringtone?

[Raz 4 life @ Jan 28th 2007 9:24PM]

Were you directing that question towards me? I could send you (email?) the MP3 file if you wanted.

If you weren't asking me, I got my hopes up =(

[James @ Jan 29th 2007 4:50PM]

Checkout my remix of this idiot complaining about this article:

http://pages.emerson.edu/students/j/james_sturges/droneremix.mp3

[Bucik Roberts @ Jan 30th 2007 1:29PM]

I want one of those.