In the past few days, drones were spotted close to three different flights trying to land at New York’s JFK Airport.
Advertisement
The report added that drones “could be used by adversaries to leverage UAS as part of an attack” and that an “emerging adversary use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems present detection and disruption challenges”. (In 2014, the CAA successfully prosecuted an individual for flying a UAS in restricted airspace over a UK nuclear submarine base.).
“Looking out the window hopefully not to see a drone”.
“The CAA has applauded moves by UAS manufacturers to build “geo-fencing” capabilities into their products” software. This plan flies in the face of the current proposed FAA regulations, which require drones to be flown only during daylight hours, in good weather conditions and within the pilot’s line-of-sight. And there have been drones crashing near the White House and other public areas (most notably a drone actually landed on an outdoor stage where German Chancellor Angela Merkel was seated waiting to make a speech). Most are so small – and largely made of plastic, to boot – that they do not register on air traffic control screens.
Gravelly Point near Washington Reagan National Airport is a plane enthusiast’s dream, but for others it can spark concern.
“Imagine a metal and plastic object – especially with (a) big lithium battery – going into a high-speed engine”, Jim Williams, the head of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), has said.
Advertisement
Part of the reason the FAA has been hesitant to open the door for tethered drones is that the devices haven’t been proven to be any safer than free-flying drones. By which time, it will be too late. After moving into corporate publishing, Dron has been an independent writer during the last decade, specializing in several areas including aviation, notably with specialist publications such as Flight worldwide, Arabian Aerospace and African Aerospace. The newsletter comes out every Friday afternoon.
