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There's a conspicuous blimp that flies about sixty miles to the north. I'm not sure of drones. I camp out there a lot and have never seen them.

[edit] it's an aerostat, not a blimp: Fort Huachuca is about fifteen miles to the north and "is home to a radar-equipped aerostat, one of a series maintained for the Drug Enforcement Administration by Lockheed Martin. The aerostat is based northeast of Garden Canyon and, when extended, supports the DEA drug interdiction mission by detecting low-flying aircraft attempting to penetrate the United States."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Huachuca



The blimp is out of Ft Huachuca and it is equipped with cameras, and there is a drone unit stationed there also. I sold some test equipment there in 1999 to TRW, now named something else.


Well...the drones aren't exactly huge, and they're flying really high up in the air, so it's doubtful that you'd see them.


The MQ-1 has a wingspan of two dozen feet, and a service ceiling of 26,000 feet. (ten thousand feet lower than a 747) It's also got a pretty tinny piston engine, with a fairly distinctive sound.

Think more "cessna with missiles" than "RC plane".

EDIT: Just checked the wikipedia pages for both:

			MQ-1 Predator	Cessna 172
	Wingspan	8.22m		11m
	Gross weight	1,020kg		1,111kg
	Service ceil.	25,000ft	13,500ft
	Cruise speed	90kn		122kn




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