Thursday, September 29, 2011

Next To be Banned: Model Airplanes?

From the El Paso Times: Model airplanes are suddenly on the public's radar as potential terrorist weapons.
A 26-year-old man from a Boston suburb was arrested Wednesday and accused of plotting to attack the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol with remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives.
These are not balsa-wood-and-rubber-band toys investigators are talking about. The FBI said Rezwan Ferdaus hoped to use military-jet replicas, 5 to 7 1/2 feet long, guided by GPS devices and capable of speeds over 100 mph.
Federal officials have long been aware of the possibility someone might try to use such planes as weapons, but there are no restrictions on their purchase - Ferdaus is said to have bought his over the Internet.
Counterterrorism experts and model-aircraft hobbyists said it would be nearly impossible to inflict large-scale damage of the sort Ferdaus allegedly envisioned using model planes. The aircraft are too small, can't carry enough explosives and are too tricky to fly, they said.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_19007200
Yeah, well, what was all that talk about biological and chemical weapons being used in small amounts but can kill a lot of people?
There will be some goofball member of a government agency who will call for more regulations on model airplanes or just to ban them all together.
Probably will try the same thing with model rockets as well.

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