Slashdot Mirror
FAA Report Says Near Collisions With Drones On the Rise
The Washington Post reports that Pilots around the United States have reported a surge in near-collisions and other dangerous encounters with small drones in the past six months at a time when the Federal Aviation Administration is gradually opening the nation’s skies to remotely controlled aircraft, according to FAA records. ... Many of the previously unreported incident reports — released Wednesday by the FAA in response to long-standing public-records requests from The Washington Post and other news organizations — occurred near New York and Washington. The FAA data indicates that drones are posing a much greater hazard to air traffic than previously recognized. Until Wednesday, the FAA had publicly disclosed only one other near-collision between a drone and a passenger aircraft: a March 22 incident involving a US Airways regional airliner near Tallahassee, Fla.
The skies are open, they are owned by nobody. This is more about technology leapfrogging regulators. Slow government agencies with no incentive to move fast. Why not start with licenses first? You need them to drive a car. You need them to fly a plane. These are effectively controlled missiles, but once control is lost they have no backup.