Drone Regulations Needed - Press Editorial

 

 

There have been a lot of signs lately, locally and nationally, that drone use is becoming a significant problem for society.

Twice as many pilots this year are seeing drones flying near planes with people. In July, pilots reported 137 sightings of drones in the skies near them, up from 36 that month a year ago.

This year so far, pilots flying into and out of Atlantic City International Airport have reported five incidents of unmanned aircraft in the vicinity.

If a drone gets sucked into a jet engine or damages a flight-control part of a plane in a collision, the result could be catastrophic.

Drone interference with aircraft fighting forest fires is becoming routine, happening 13 times so far this year and grounding planes several times. In July, five drones above a California wildlife grounded firefighting planes for 20 minutes, allowing it to spread.

Smaller drones - essentially radio-controlled helicopters with cameras - have resulted in incidents in South Jersey this year.

A Lower Township man was indicted last month on a weapons charge after allegedly shooting a drone that he said was harassing his family.

That same week a low-flying drone caused officials in Ocean City to halt a high school football scrimmage with Middle Township's team.

Such incidents are sure to become more common as the price of drones plunges. They're already popular enough that drones capable of taking mobile phone video and photos were being offered as an impulse buy at the Somers Point ShopRite last week.

Online comments on Press drone-incident stories suggest no one wants their privacy invaded by drones and some are quite willing to attack drones that try.

No wonder Long Beach Township pre-emptively banned the use of recreational drones within township limits earlier this year. Drone use without any rules poses safety issues, and drones invading privacy add the risk from a provoked reaction.

But local bans can only be a stop-gap until state and federal regulations are issued. Unfortunately, while the drone problem is already here, such rules have yet to get off the ground.

In May, the state Assembly passed a bill that would require law enforcement agencies to get a warrant for most surveillance uses of drones and would ban outfitting drones with weapons. That sounds like it might be a reasonable approach to a potential future problem, but the bill does nothing to address the problems drones are already causing.

The federal Department of Transportation last month said it was looking into whether the Federal Aviation Administration has the authority to require the registration of drones capable of interfering with airplanes. That would at least make enforcement of future rules more possible. So far, the FAA has given drones pretty much a free pass, with only five fines issued since 2011.

But except for areas around airports, the FAA isn't concerned as long as drones of any kind operate below 400 feet. Needless to say, while that protects airplanes, it leaves a lot of space for other mischief.

Drone regulation will be complex and difficult, so it's understandable that doing it right will take time. Drone tests are being conducted now for the FAA at the Cape May Airport, one of six sites around the nation doing the studies needed to understand unpiloted aircraft.

But we may not have that much time before problems have serious, possibly tragic results. State and federal officials should impose their own stop-gap rules now .

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/editorials/drone-regulation-needed-now-at-state-and-federal-levels/article_2d9131a2-1268-5025-a08d-7f58db317ddd.html

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http://gadfly01.blogspot.com/2015/08/1st-drone-shooter-in-nation-indicted.html