One step back, two steps forward for the US drone industry?
Hobby drone registration is back and there’s finally a well-documented incident of a drone hitting an aircraft in the United States. Where do we go from here?
With the stroke of a pen, President Trump signed hobby sUAS/drone registration into law on Tuesday December 12, 2017. Obviously the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2018 included a number of other, arguably more important provisions, but I’m not going to get into a diatribe about outrageous amounts of military spending in a country where roughly 1 in 7 people live at or below the poverty line. Not in this post at least.
If you’re not familiar with this past year’s “scandal” centered around hobby drone registration in the United States, here’s a great WaPo article to catch you up on the situation prior to December 12th. But long story short: we’ve taken a step back to what the rules were prior to May 19, 2017 (i.e. even if you fly a .55–55 lbs. drone for fun, you now have to register it with the FAA).
Some would argue that the government has no business forcing non-commercial drone operators to register their drones. To that point your honor, I’d like to submit the following incident into evidence.
The first fully documented incident of a drone colliding with a manned aircraft (in the United States) occurred on September 21, 2017. You can read the full report here, but the quick summary goes a little something like this: a military Black Hawk helicopter (similar to the one in the image above) collided with a Phantom 4 drone approximately one mile east of Staten Island, NY. The drone was being operated by a hobby remote pilot that admittedly purposefully flew the drone out of visual line of sight and wasn’t aware of operating within an existing temporary flight restriction (TFR).
The drone was destroyed; the helicopter landed safely and sustained only minor dent and scratch damage.
Key takeaway: no one was injured and no property (outside of the two aircraft) was damaged.
In the context of the incident itself, and even at the responsible hobby pilot’s own admission, it’s obvious he was simply either oblivious or willfully ignorant of the regulations surrounding hobby flight. He had no idea that it’s important to check for TFRs prior to taking off. And even if he was aware that he shouldn’t fly his drone outside of visual line of sight, he didn’t think it was a problem over water…especially at a height of 300 ft. MSL. Even though he admitted to knowing there were helicopters frequently operating in the area, it’s not like he anticipate hitting a Black Hawk that day. How improbably would that be?! Sheesh.
As a certified remote pilot that deeply cares about the safe integration of sUAS/UAS into the national airspace, I glean two important takeaways from this incident:
- A collision was bound to happen. Less than one month later, the first confirmed commercial aircraft in Canada was struck by a drone near Quebec City Airport on October 12, 2017. As with the US Black Hawk incident, the twin-engine commercial prop plane landed safely with minor damage. Ignorance and a general disregard for regulations go hand-in-hand, but when coupled with a growing amount of both hobby and commercial drones in the market, it’s only a matter of time before another incident occurs. It’s simply a statistical numbers game.
- (Tying this post together) There is a growing need for not only the promotion of existing regulation of sUAS and UAS in the United States (and the world), but without enforcement and the continued fear-mongering in the press (here’s the latest, misinformation-spreading drone industry hit-piece), there is still a real threat that irrational fear-mongering could swing public perception heavily toward the anti-drone camp.
Thankfully, both recent drone-related aircraft collisions caused no fatalities or even downed manned aircraft. Taking a step in what I consider to be the right direction, DJI is forcing a “knowledge quiz” prior to takeoff on it’s drones. Yes, I took it and yes, it’s pretty simple. But still, the less hobbyists can claim ignorance, the better for the industry.
From my perspective, forcing registration for hobby use is also a good idea. It at least “forces” anyone buying a drone off Amazon to get a basic understanding of the regulations around hobby flight before taking off for the first time. Treating any GPS/GLONASS-enabled drone as a toy ignores the capabilities of these awe-inspiring flying machines.
And if there’s anything that will sway public perception…it’s ignorance and blatant disregard for existing regulations. Trust me, no actual, certified commercial drone pilot is looking to jeopardize their $1,000+ investment and potential reputation destruction trying to impress their online forum “buddies” with how far they can take their bird.
Before you start thinking that I’m trying to advocate for the government to tighten its death grip around a flourishing technology that can do so much good for the world…I want to end with some recent insights that put aviation safety into perspective.
Do you know how many manned aircraft crashed in the US last year? Ok, how about how many crashed during a 1 week period (December 10–16) in 2017?
And http://aviation.globalincidentmap.com/ isn’t even an official reporting agency, so who really knows what the real figures are.
Drone incidents have just started; let’s not over-hype the threats when the facts and associated risks should speak for themselves. Especially in light of public perception becoming more tolerant (I dare yet say, favorable) toward drones. #justsaying
Thanks for reading!
If you’re a certified remote pilot in the United States and are interested in earning a residual income from your aerial photos and/or videos, sign up to be a Pilot Contributor with Airzus. It’s free and you keep all your image rights. We’ll also send you drone work when we have some in your area. The best part: no membership fee.
If you’re interested in becoming a certified remote (i.e. drone) pilot in the US, shoot me an email…I’d be more than happy to point you in the right direction.
My email is sk[at]airzus.com
Happy & safe flying.
