Portugese Navy hilariously botches a drone lauch in front of their prime minister - Polidicks

[url=http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/19/portugal-drone-fail-video-unmanned-aircraft-drops-into-lisbon-harbour-4703360/]metro.co.uk[/url] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NpemFgUH08[/media] [quote] [B]The Portuguese navy unveiled its new state-of-the-art surveillance drone this week, but things didn’t exactly go to plan[/B]. It was launched in front of the nation’s media and Portugal’s defence minister at a Lisbon naval base, with disastrous results. ‘It will be highly effective in missions the navy has to fulfil,’ declared minister José Pedro Aguiar-Branco before the demonstration. But he was made to look a bit foolish when it ditched into the harbour within seconds.[/quote]

That guy is so getting disciplined.

[QUOTE=Trekintosh;44594191]That guy is so getting disciplined.[/QUOTE] Didn't look like the guy launching it did anything wrong. It just pitched downward. I think it's more likely either mechanical failure or pilot-error.

i swear every single time my country is on the news its something like this

I love how the media calls everything remote controlled a "Drone" these days

it dropped in literally the funniest way possible

[QUOTE=Saxon;44594408]I love how the media calls everything remote controlled a "Drone" these days[/QUOTE] Because the thing in question is by definition a drone? [editline]20th April 2014[/editline] That's literally what drones are, when it comes to these in army use. Remotely controlled vehicles, primarily intended for surveillance. It's not like Predator was the first or is the only drone out there.

Now we can actually use those subs we got for something :v:

We had the North Korean Space Agency gif. Now we have a Portuguese Air Force/Navy gif in the making. Oh dear.

Do model planes usually have to be launched by hand like that? Seems like the proper way would've been to let it get some speed on it's own down the length of the harbor, then turn to wherever it was supposed to go when it took off.

[QUOTE=latin_geek;44594786]Do model planes usually have to be launched by hand like that? Seems like the proper way would've been to let it get some speed on it's own down the length of the harbor, then turn to wherever it was supposed to go when it took off.[/QUOTE] I am not sure but this particular one doesn't seem to have landing wheels or anything. By the way, my local newspaper says the thing survived, they immediately pulled it out of the water and it took of successfully afterwards.

[QUOTE=latin_geek;44594786]Do model planes usually have to be launched by hand like that? Seems like the proper way would've been to let it get some speed on it's own down the length of the harbor, then turn to wherever it was supposed to go when it took off.[/QUOTE] Military UAV's are generally designed to be able to be launched anywhere at any time, so as such the tiny ones usually lack wheels and substitute impact resistant fuselages instead. From what I can tell just by looking at the video, the aircraft in question seems to be a pusher prop type airplane which means the propeller(s) and what not are all in the back and out of harms way, so in the event a hard landing needed to be made on rough ground everything would be alright. (this is just speculative assumptions based on other UAV designs)

yeah go portugal....

you tried.

I feel so embarrassed.

oh god, my people have become north korea.

[QUOTE=Saxon;44594408]I love how the media calls everything remote controlled a "Drone" these days[/QUOTE] Because its easier to refer to things by names that people understand. In fact calling everything a drone actually came up in a leaked memo someone posted an article on here about (the general(or was it major?) who went on a rant about sandwiches and knives). Its easier just to use plain language that people understand. What difference would it make if this thread said MUAV/SUAV instead of drone? Apart from confusing people who don't know what M/SUAVs are.

If the press were to catch wind that those ships in background are actually made out of cardboard, then our navi would be truly fucked.

It's the navy, they obviously made a unmanned sub.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/P9PA6tQ.jpg[/IMG] You portuguese are never going to beat brazil's high tech drones!

Annnnndddd bye country. (packs bags)

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;44594790]I am not sure but this particular one doesn't seem to have landing wheels or anything. By the way, my local newspaper says the thing survived, they immediately pulled it out of the water and it took of successfully afterwards.[/QUOTE] That's impressive.

I love how everybody clapping just stopped instantly :v:

Didn't see this on the news or anywhere

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN-sploosh!

Did this fail because he was holding the drone upside down?

The sound of it dunking into the water killed me.

Oh my country. [video=youtube;pMNShtjCYH8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMNShtjCYH8[/video]

Should had been the president. Would have been even funnier looking at him go "he he he, look it has a litul fan on the front... what does it do? is it like my RC plane? he he he"

[QUOTE=latin_geek;44594786]Do model planes usually have to be launched by hand like that? Seems like the proper way would've been to let it get some speed on it's own down the length of the harbor, then turn to wherever it was supposed to go when it took off.[/QUOTE]Yeah, usually you launch little ones like that by hand. You're essentially giving them a catapult launch, except your arm isn't powered by steam. Of course mine is, because I'm a steampunk scientist and clockwork gentleman, but that's a story for another time. Anyway, sometimes smaller UAVs/remote controlled aircraft don't actually have enough thrust to overcome the friction of them sitting on the ground, plus those that have their tail simply dragging on the ground are not going to fare well on concrete. Plus being so small means there isn't a lot of room to have retractable landing gears, so the performance is going to be diminished with these silly non-aerodynamic wheels dangling underneath. It's just easier to have somebody throw the thing into the wind.