"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 12:38:33 GMT, "John Doe"
wrote in . net::

How much of the American boarder with Mexico is out of radar contact?

I would suspect the answer to that question is, very little. But
that's not the question we should be asking.

Why does baby Bush deploy UAVs for the mission of securing the
nation's southern border? Because UAVs cost millions of dollars, and
require a crew of 7 on the ground to operate them, not to mention the
airspace grab through TFRs, the money spent on this non-hostile
mission would be much better spent on live bodies in Cessna C-182s
equipped with IR sensors. UAVs are useful for missions on which the
potential for loss of crew is a factor, and about four times more
costly to operate than conventional manned surveillance aircraft. If
the Bush administration's goal were truly boarder security, they could
field four times as many manned observation/surveillance aircraft.

I completely agree. I think the problem is, there are UAVs that are
available now and it's an immediate bandaid to the problem. What we need is
a call for bids for a long term contract for airborne ISR to work with/for
the boarder patrol. I don't know of any fleet of aircraft/pilots that are
standing by and waiting to do this job.

There was some fuss about the FAA creating TFRs for the UAVs that are
flying
with boarder patrol along the Mexico.

And well there should be. The current UAVs lack the ability to comply
with FARs requiring aircraft to maintain _visual_ separation in VMC.

Why can't the UAV just fly along under an IFR flight plan and everyone
else just avoid the little thing just like any other plane on an IFR
flight plan?

Because, in VMC the UAVs are unable to comply with federal
regulations.


Guess it's time to change the FARs to welcome UAVs to US airspace....(like
it or not, they're here)

When there is so much talk about securing the boarders, I can't imagine
that
there is any strip of the boarder that we can not monitor by radar.

The borders are unsecured, because the Bush administration doesn't
want to secure them. The UAVs are being deployed to establish a
precedent for remote domestic surveillance, in my opinion, not to
secure the nation's borders. Given the cost involved, what other
reason for UAV deployment makes sense?



Politics to show that the administration is doing something to address the
problem. I call it Bandaid Politics.