Colorado Lawmakers Want To Make It a Felony To Fly a Drone Over a Wildfire (thedrive.com)

Several Colorado lawmakers are trying to urge Congress to pass a bill that would make flying unmanned aerial vehicles over wildfires a felony, citing safety concerns. The Drive reports: On Wednesday, Senators Cory Gardner (R-Colorado), Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), and Representative Scott Tipton (R-Colorado) introduced the Securing Airspace For Emergency Responders Act, which would fine people for flying UAVs over wildfires without authorization, and potentially send them to jail for a year. "When an unauthorized drone flies over a wildfire, it poses a huge threat to aircraft working to suppress the fire and forces them to ground," said Tipton in a statement. Steve Hall, a spokesman for Colorado's office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, staunchly echoed that sentiment, claiming that firefighters face enough of a challenge navigating smoky and turbulent conditions while piloting firefighting aircraft, that adding rogue drones to the mix would only increase danger and hamper their efforts. On top of that, Hall explained that once an unauthorized drone is observed during a wildfire, firefighters ground their planes. The Denver Post first reported the news (paywalled).

Comments

Re:this should be a misdemeanor

[Maelwryth]

I have been on the ground in a couple of large fires and you just don't have time for air traffic control for other aircraft. You have multiple helicopters working in already dangerous conditions moving as fast as possible to inhibit the fire frount. No radar and low level. Drones are a pain in the ass and need to be banned from the area, same as other aircraft.

Re: Give me a break; misdemeanor is already excess

[Zocalo]

Not quite the same severity of problem, so no. Sure, a bird strike can cause a lot of damage to a plane, but firefighting aircraft tend to be slower moving over the operational zone than in normal flight, which reduces the potential impact damage from both birds and drones. Wildlife is also generally pretty good at getting itself away from things like wildfires, assuming the route is clear and they can move fast enough, so the chances of a bird strike over the fire are actually going to be lower than normal. The extra risk comes from the fact that drones tend to be made of more robust and rigid materials - plastic and metal rather than flesh and bone - so there is more potential for damage per kg., and especially because some of those components are potentially flammable, or even explosive. The chances of it happening might be pretty low, but a battery pack igniting as it passes through a turbine or propeller could really ruin a pilot's day - or worse.

Re:this should be a misdemeanor

[afidel]

The UK CAA recently did some pretty extensive testing, 1.2kg class drones were a significant hazard to helicopters and non-airline airplane windscreens and propulsion surfaces. That means almost the entire firefighting fleet in most cases as only the larger 737 class tankers would be likely to have birdstrike rated windscreens and fanblades, and those are only used on the largest of forest fires.