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FAA Warns More Drones Are Flying Near Airports (fortune.com)
Between February and September of 2016, there were 1,274 reports of drones near airports -- versus just 874 for the same period in 2015, according to newly-released FAA research. "The report detailed more than 1,200 incidents of airplane pilots, law enforcement, air traffic controllers, and U.S. citizens reporting drones flying in places they shouldn't," writes Fortune. An anonymous reader quotes their report:
One of takeaway of the report was that while the FAA has received several reports from pilots that drones may have hit their aircraft, the administration was unable to verify any such claim. "Every investigation has found the reported collisions were either birds, impact with other items such as wires and posts, or structural failure not related to colliding with an unmanned aircraft," the FAA said in a statement... Although a drone hasn't smashed into an airplane yet, the FAA "wants to send a clear message that operating drones around airplanes and helicopters is dangerous and illegal. Unauthorized operators may be subject to stiff fines and criminal charges, including possible jail time," the FAA said.
If these are 'real' drones or just the latest Unidentified Flying Object. Since there are very few truly unambiguous reports of drone incursions into airspace and virtually no proven drone strikes it is really, really unclear just what this represents.
More drones flown by idiots? Sure, that's a pretty reasonable interpretation. Good luck trying to fix stupid.
A new punching bag for anything floating around in the airspace?
Aliens?
Personally, I blame Trump. If he can take credit for the National Debt to drop 0.02% in his first month of office, he can take the heat for this.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
If all reported strikes have been shown to not be drones, one has to question the reports that don't involve strikes.
There's stuff in the air near airports. People fear drones. They must be drones!
If the evidence indicates that birds are being mistaken for drones, I'd have to go with the evidence. If you want to reduce air strikes, figure out how to keep birds out. Maybe drones are part of the solution rather than the problem.
FAA Won't Let Me Play
While I don't know of any incidents within the US, I have seen at least one case where a drone collision actually occurred:
http://avherald.com/h?article=...
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
Fly those drones and shine those lasers everywhere
Last week I passed my "part 107" certification for commercial sUAS pilot. The main driver for me doing this is because I might someday want to fly in airspace that is off limits to a hobbyist pilot. As a hobbyist, you're required to get permission (good luck with that) to fly within 5 miles of any airport (including heliports and grass strips), and forbidden from flying in controlled airspace. With certification you can fly just about anywhere in class G airspace and there's a process (that will soon get much simpler) to get permission to fly in class B, C, D and E airspace. Now if airmen spot an sUAS under them when flying near an airport that might or might not be a problem. As a practical matter, it isn't a good idea to fly just for the heck of it, but there is certainly permitted activity. And almost all activity is well below the hard 400' AGL limit imposed by the FAA anyway, at least for what most of us want to do with drones.
That said, the industry should be doing more to educate pilots, especially now that the FAA has set up rules and fines. Just having an EULA-like "I agree to be a good boy" checkbox isn't enough. And I'm not necessarily in favor of drones being sold in big box retailers either. You won't buy a Cessna like you would an Chevy and you shouldn't buy a drone the same way you'd buy an Xbox. Manufacturers need to be held a little more responsible for their products. These things can potentially do a lot of damage (imagine a 15 lb drone crashing through a roof and then the damaged battery shorting out and catching fire). Most of the people I know think that because they're somewhat easy to fly that means they're not dangerous. When they work, they work great. But there's not too many recoverable failure modes and when something goes wrong, they drop out of the sky like an expensive rock.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
1500 incidents of drones flying around airports? Are they Russian?
My dream job is to work for airports shooting down drones. I suspect most of them can be taken out with birdshot and the right choketube. And birdshot is pretty harmless to rain down over an urban area, even if it manged to go far enough to leave the perimeter of the airport.
Anything tougher we can use a rifle, either to the drone or preferably to the drone operator..
Idiots fly drones near airports. Don't be an idiot.
The FAA must be referring only to incidents in the U.S. Here's a video of a drone striking the winglet of a commercial airliner, and I can only assume it happened outside the U.S.; I don't recognize the city in the background.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
It's the first clip, the strike happens at about 30s. Scary.
Cheers, Tim -- Tim Janke Part mad scientist, part lion tamer: sr. software engineer, global team leader, project mana
Aww, did I hurt someone's poor wittwe feewings? Probably a pilot, huh? As an AMA member in good standing who actually reads his copies of Model Aviation I know that one doesn't know what one is talking about when one claims that you have to ask permission to fly within five miles of an airport. The AMA requires members to notify an airport if they wish to operate a model above 400' AGL when within 3 miles of an airport. The law requires all UAS pilots (registered or not) to notify an airport when operating within five miles. The AMA also informed me that "most" airport addresses and contact information are available at Skyvector.com but that if you can't make contact, or if you want to establish a permanent flying location, you should contact the AMA for assistance.
If you think you may not operate a drone within five miles of an airport without permission, you are badly, sadly mistaken.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Here's a video by the author of how he created this "drone strike video."
https://youtu.be/GS3nb4bwHKQ
I'm not necessarily in favor of drones being sold in big box retailers either. These things can potentially do a lot of damage (imagine a 15 lb drone crashing through a roof
That's hilarious. The larger size quadcopters sold by big box retailers are closer 15 OUNCES, not 15 POUNDS. The biggest I found was 38 ounces (1000 grams). When I mess up with my quad, it *can* damage some leaves. A hobby drone crash through a roof? I doubt it would crash through a piece of paper. I may test that to see.
If you actually got certified, that's scary because others have pointed out you're clueless about even the most basic laws, and it's apparent you've never so much as picked up a drone at the store. It's ounces of plastic bro, chill out.
Target sells the Phantom 3 and Parrot drones. Best Buy sells DJI and Yuneec drones. All of which are more than .55 pounds.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
Yes, those are the bigger drones sold in big box stores. You mentioned Parrot as an example - I'm guessing you had the Parrot AR 2.0 in mind (Parrot also makes much smaller ones). That's still under a pound, of plastic. Not 15 pounds of steel or anything that would even damage a shingle, much less "crash through a roof".
Since the FAA is responsible for preventing drone strikes, but not bird strikes, all impacts must be bird strikes. You can't prove that a bird didn't hit the airplane. Therefore, it must be a bird, not a drone.
If there were no documented collisions of a quadcopter and an airplane, why not to try to create it. For example, a flying DJI Phantom with the weight 1.2 kg and an airplane wing moving on rails. And see what happens. The FAA colleagues could do it first, and then print 700 pages regulations.
> Toys that deserve a modicum of respect.
Respect, yes, of course.
> I wouldn't want to get smacked by the props on one, and a phantom is no joke.
Two weeks ago I did something kinda stupid. I stuck my hand in the prop of a Phantom-sized one as it was flying. This was one that has parts interchangeable with a Phantom, a clone or knock off. Anyway while it was hovering a sudden wind gust sent it toward my two year old daughter. Parental instinct kicked in and I snatched it out the air. Acting immediately, instinctively, I didn't think to grab it from the bottom, I just reached out and grabbed the arm of the drone, putting my fingers right through the spinning prop.
Fortunately, the manufacturers of these sub-$2000 drones have thought to use soft plastic for the props. The finger that took the force of the prop hurt for several minutes. There was a very small but very dark "bruise" where the edge of the prop hit my finger, a little pocket of blood under the skin. It takes two weeks for a bruise like that to come to the surface and disappear. I'd rate it similar to closing an interior door on your hand. It hurt significantly less than hitting your thumb with a hammer, maybe similar to a mousetrap.
So yeah, I try to fly safe, and I very much would not want one those props to hit my daughter. On the other hand, from experience I'd rather grab a spinning prop than hit my thumb with a hammer.
I may practice grabbing one with an underhand motion, though, coming up from the bottom and grabbing a leg. A lot of people routinely catch them that way.
Clearly too many people can't be trusted with drones larger than toys, that can be operated more than a few dozen feet away from the controller, and they should be banned entirely for private citizens, made illegal to sell in the U.S., and limited to only government-licensed, business-only pilots, and as strictly regulated as any other aircraft operated within the borders of the United States. Violators should be arrested and charged with a federal felony, and treated as potential terrorists until proven otherwise, serve jail time, and pay huge fines -- and fuck all of you assholes who disagree with me because ANY of you who disagree with me are probably the assholes who are flying your gods-be-damned drones in places YOU DO NOT BELONG and are the root cause of the problem!
I said that it's not like accidentally hitting your hand with a hammer. A couple hours later, I accidentally hit my hand with a hammer.
I think I should point out that it's also not like making love to Sofia Vergara.
I can't wait to see what happens in a couple hours.