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Drone Sightings Near Other Aircraft Up Dramatically
schwit1 writes The government is getting near-daily reports — and sometimes two or three a day — of drones flying near airplanes and helicopters or close to airports without permission, federal and industry officials tell The Associated Press. It's a sharp increase from just two years ago when such reports were still unusual. Many of the reports are filed with the Federal Aviation Administration by airline pilots. But other pilots, airport officials and local authorities often file reports as well, said the officials, who agreed to discuss the matter only on the condition that they not be named because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. Michael Toscano, president of a drone industry trade group, said FAA officials also have verified the increase to him. While many of the reports are unconfirmed, raising the possibility that pilots may have mistaken a bird or another plane in the distance for a drone, the officials said other reports appear to be credible.
Or are they remote-controlled Italian hyperspace toads being flown by Wi-Fi signals from an evil stealth Toad satellite over Chicago?
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Drones are so much fun and you can get so many cool photos and video from them.
Yet these morons flying drones near airports are going to ruin it for everyone. Expect to see them heavily regulated or banned soon.
This is why we can't have nice things. :(
No need to worry. The Free Market will sort this out.
In Canada, drones are more widely used than in the US, mostly because you can actually legally use a drone for commercial purposes. There are laws about drones: no flying at night, no flying within 5 miles of an airport, no flying above 1200 feet. Spying on people is also illegal. You can take pictures of people on the beach, not through bedroom windows of a 20 story building. Laws are fairly heavily enforced. The police have drones too, and theirs will go after yours. At the most fun: you lose your drone (you can keep the remote, but the drone is gone). At the least fun: the drone is gone, and the remote, and the fingerprints on it lead back to you, and now you stare at the world from the window of the crowbar hotel.
The Hudson "landing" was caused by a flock of geese (and only possible with an experienced pilot with balls of steel and a shitload of luck). What jet engines are tested for is that they won't explode and damage and take the plane down with them right away. They are not guaranteed to keep working and they sure as hell don't provide normal thrust afterwards. Bird strikes are critical events. A single bird can bring down a plane if it strikes close to ground (during take off or landing).
At the speeds commercial aircraft are moving, yes, I could see a pilot mistaking a bird soaring for a RC airplane.
It has less to do with relative speed than relative speed vectors. The most difficult target to see, even when advised of its presence, is coming from a constant bearing decreasing range as there is little change in position with respect to field of vision. I have flown past, on three separate occasions, mylar balloons while at cruise flight levels (FL300-FL390) at 400-450 KTAS. The size and shape are arguably similar to drones, so distinguishing a drone from a bird while at drone operating altitudes should be equally trivial, assuming the event wasn't just a flash in the visual periphery.
Commercial aircraft are moving much faster, and the pilots are busy doing pesky things like preparing to land. Seeing a bird or drone is nothing more than a glance and a "I saw something".
My VMC scan at cruise is much less rigorous than while in a terminal environment. The flying pilot should be scanning outside (VMC), and leaving box work to the non-flying pilot. "See and avoid..."
All that said, I have not ever encountered a "drone" in my 15000 hours of flying, respecting the fact that I don't find myself in the environment (which most likely is not large commercial airports) in which drones operate. OTOH I usually have about 1 birdstrike per year, most of which I never see- only hear the impact.
Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?