[freemind]

Hi everyone, I am fascinated by the flat earth idea and what may be beyond Antarctica in this this world view.

Why not send a drone southwards from near the edges of Antarctica? It could be fitted with a camera etc. Wouldn't that settle things in some way?

[Rushy]

Would you like to donate to the Send A Drone To Antarctica fund?

[Mostlyharmless]

Would you like to donate to the Send A Drone To Antarctica fund?

Are you trying to disprove his/her point, or agree that it would indeed be incredibly easy to do?

[Rushy]

Are you trying to disprove his/her point, or agree that it would indeed be incredibly easy to do?

I choose none of those options.

[freemind]

Just exploring the idea at this stage. I wasn't thinking of a super expensive military style drone. I think there are commercially available drones, radio controlled planes and helicopters for a few hundred dollars.

The question that comes up for me is what range/altitude would be necessary to prove something either way or at least make some kind of advance in knowledge.

[Rushy]

It is cheaper and requires less traveling just to use a laser to measure the curvature of a body of water over a long distance.

[jroa]

Just exploring the idea at this stage. I wasn't thinking of a super expensive military style drone. I think there are commercially available drones, radio controlled planes and helicopters for a few hundred dollars.

The question that comes up for me is what range/altitude would be necessary to prove something either way or at least make some kind of advance in knowledge.

What is the range of these few hundred dollar drones?  You do realize how big Antarctica is supposed to be, don't you? 

[Benjamin Franklin]

I think this is a great idea. If you have a drone or some extra cash lying around, let me know. I'd be happy to help in anyway I can, and would gladly help pilot the drone to verify there is no tampering with the results.

[freemind]

Hi Irush, the laser method is interesting definitely. It might be cheaper as you say and better in other ways as well compared to the drone idea.

There is still the curiosity though of what is beyond the theorised ice circle said to encircle the flat earth. The drone method could provide some data on that.

As jroa indicates the technical range of affordable drones may be a major issue. I've had a look on wiki and for First Person View
 radio-controlled flyers: "The current round-trip distance record for an FPV aircraft is 68.9 miles (horizontal distance). Altitudes of up to 33,103 meters above ground (launch site) level have also been achieved, with a mix of weather balloon and RC glider equipment used"

I do not know how thick the ice wall is supposed to be or the dimensions that the conventional Antarctica is supposed to have as of yet, although I know it is large.

The figures above for FPV may be inadequate(?) but is FPV necessary? I've read a few posts on this site where there are people on both sides of the argument who are good with geometry...how about some kind of weather balloon? What height would be needed to provide useful photographs?

Even if the photo-views could not extend far enough to show what is beyond the ice etc they still might be able to verify or refute some of the conventional distances between science stations and geographic features.

Let's say hypothetically that a trusted member of admin set up a research fund, I would be tempted to put in a few hundred dollars-and I am not very financially well off plus have a wide range of other interests competing for my time and resources.. surely there are a few on this forum much more dedicated to these issues than me who would consider donating to an admin fund for this project? (or other projects?)

Ben, are you based south? In any case you can help by researching some potential launch locations. The team ideally would have a few mature members from both the Round and Flat groups.

Anyway just a few initial thoughts to see if the plan has any viability, cheers.

[Mostlyharmless]

hi freemind, why would a drone even be necessary? Why could you not, on a sufficiently tall building, with a sufficiently powerful telescope, see forever?

[Mostlyharmless]

In fact. The info is already there:http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/4310/what-if-any-regularly-scheduled-airline-flights-pass-over-antarctica

[Pete Svarrior]

hi freemind, why would a drone even be necessary? Why could you not, on a sufficiently tall building, with a sufficiently powerful telescope, see forever?

http://wiki.tfes.org/Viewing_Distance

[Pongo]

Hi everyone, I am fascinated by the flat earth idea and what may be beyond Antarctica in this this world view.

Why not send a drone southwards from near the edges of Antarctica? It could be fitted with a camera etc. Wouldn't that settle things in some way?

Lets pretend that you have access to some drone that can accomplish what you are saying.  Then what?  How will you get to Antarctica to fly it?  "Simply" pay a captain to sail you there?  How will you fuel the drone? "Simply" buy some jet fuel?  Do you plan on having a live feed on the drone?  I guess we'll need to "simply" set up a listening station and transmitter.

Even if you had this mythical non-military grade drone that can fly over Antarctica, you are still many steps away from completion and nowhere near simple.

[Benjamin Franklin]

Ben, are you based south? In any case you can help by researching some potential launch locations. The team ideally would have a few mature members from both the Round and Flat groups.

Nah. I'm not naive enough to think I can manage much of the technical or financial side of this project. I'll leave that up to you. I just want to fly a drone.

[Mostlyharmless]

Hi everyone, I am fascinated by the flat earth idea and what may be beyond Antarctica in this this world view.

Why not send a drone southwards from near the edges of Antarctica? It could be fitted with a camera etc. Wouldn't that settle things in some way?

Lets pretend that you have access to some drone that can accomplish what you are saying.  Then what?  How will you get to Antarctica to fly it?  "Simply" pay a captain to sail you there?  How will you fuel the drone? "Simply" buy some jet fuel?  Do you plan on having a live feed on the drone?  I guess we'll need to "simply" set up a listening station and transmitter.

Even if you had this mythical non-military grade drone that can fly over Antarctica, you are still many steps away from completion and nowhere near simple.

Even if it isn't simple, why has no one ever done it before? Why, in fact, do planes fly from south America to Australia over Antarctica?

[Pete Svarrior]

Why, in fact, do planes fly from south America to Australia over Antarctica?

They don't.

http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/4310/what-if-any-regularly-scheduled-airline-flights-pass-over-antarctica
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=635042

[Mostlyharmless]

Why, in fact, do planes fly from south America to Australia over Antarctica?

They don't.

http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/4310/what-if-any-regularly-scheduled-airline-flights-pass-over-antarctica
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=635042

Okay, then why is the flight time vastly shorter then would be anticipated under FET where the south is huge?

[Pete Svarrior]

Okay, then why is the flight time vastly shorter then would be anticipated under FET where the south is huge?

It's not.

[Mostlyharmless]

Okay, then why is the flight time vastly shorter then would be anticipated under FET where the south is huge?

It's not.

Erm yes it is, you'd expect flights in-between southern countries to take longer times than flights between northern countries that are the same distance away in RET, but they don't. How does FET explain that?

[Rushy]

Perhaps this would be better illustrated if you gave an example.