[Sixstrings]

I've never even seen one of these or knew it was so popular.

But anyhow, apparently the phantom drone has been popular for a while now and it does look fun:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')y first day with my drone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsHMjWORFvI

[dinopello]

I've got a little Hubsan FPV - it's pretty cheap but still fun.

The 6-DOF flight controls for any quadrotor is basically the same but the real fun comes when you can have the system cooperate and calculate their own trajectories like UPenn does.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQIMGV5vtd4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-dkonAXOlQ

[Sixstrings]

Cool vids Dino, somebody could make a slying drone circus.

This is in the news, drug cartels are using drones not to just fly drugs over the obrder, easy as pie use your tablet. So that's interesting. What can authorities do in this case, there's no way to see one of these drones flying at night time.

They only know about it because a meth drone crashed:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')rone Carrying Meth Crashes Near San Ysidro Port of Entry
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Drone-Carrying-Meth-Crashes-Near-San-Ysidro-Port-of-Entry-289353601.html

[Sixstrings]

Somebody landed a drone of some kind on the white house grounds:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')ecret Service recovers 'device' at White House; radio transmissions indicate reported 'drone'

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A spokesman for President Barack Obama says a "device" has been found on the grounds of the White House but that it poses no threat.

Spokesman Josh Earnest says Secret Service agents recovered the object but that early indications are that it does not pose a threat to anyone in the building.

FOX 5 has listened to radio transmissions which indicate crews were called out because of a reported 'drone.'
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/27937751/emergency-response-reported-at-white-house

[Sixstrings]

Just to update this; the drone that landed at the WH was from a "drunk" US gov intelligence employee. He was messing around flying his friend's hobby drone out the apartment window:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ASHINGTON — It was 42 degrees and raining lightly around 3 a.m. on Monday when an inebriated off-duty employee for a government intelligence agency decided it was a good time to fly his friend’s drone, a 2-foot-by-2-foot “quadcopter” that sells for hundreds of dollars and is popular among hobbyists.

But officials say the plan was foiled, perhaps by wind or a tree, when the employee — who has not been named by the Secret Service or charged with a crime — lost control of the drone as he operated it from an apartment just blocks from the White House.

He texted his friends, worried that the drone had gone down on the White House grounds, and then went to sleep. It was not until the next morning, when he woke and learned from friends that a drone had been found at the White House, that he contacted his employer, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He then called the Secret Service and immediately began cooperating with an investigation into the incident.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/white-house-drone.html

[dinopello]

I figured it was something like that. Those things are all over the place. The cheap ones without GPS homing are easy to get away from you and out of sight. I had that very thing happen the first time I used my hubsan outside in the backyard. I climbed up to about 100 ft and it drifted over some trees, out of sight and lost video link so the only thing I could do was a emergency land. It hit the neighbors garage and fortunately I heard it and it bounced off and I was able to retrieve it without having to ring the doorbell and ask to retrieve my drone. That would be embarrassing.

These little guys will fly really high and once they are out of sight it's game over. The story in the video link has a good explanation of what happens. The only way to find them is walk around and spin up the motors and hope you hear it thrashing on the ground.

If you want to fly high it's probably worth the investment to get a model with GPS home. You'll pay around $300 or more for one of those

[KaiserJeep]

Lots of ways to have fun with drones. There are for example off-the-shelf paintball drones like this 4-rotor:

(This unit was modified from a video camera drone.)
Then there are the DIY versions in the combat game "Game of Drones" such as this high performance 6-rotor:

Unfortunately that last unit has onboard video, a half mile range, amazing speed, and enough payload capacity to carry a .22 caliber 10 round automatic pistol, the preferred weapon of underworld hitmen.

Then there are plastic lightweight .22 caliber guns that can be printed using 3D printers, found on the web. It is only a matter of time before somebody posts online plans for a DIY 3D-printable plastic assassination drone.

Police and security forces are just becoming aware of the dangers these units pose, and the difficulties in regulating drones - they utilize common hobby engines and lithium-Ion or Lithium-polymer batteries from mobile electronic devices. As for protecting targets from them, authorities have had some success knocking down drones with shotguns, but the discharge of a shotgun loaded with birdshot into the air is impossible in most urban areas.

I thought about experimenting with armed interceptor drones, but you need non-lethal weaponry to take down propellor drones, such as spider web threads that would entangle the rotors. I can't compete with firms that are designing such interceptors, as fun as it sounds.