Danger warning as drone rules relaxed

COMMERCIAL planes and helicopters will risk catastrophic crashes with drones under new rules, experts warn.

The laws, going into effect tomorrow, are billed as cutting red tape for commercial drone operators.

But Joseph Wheeler, aviation special counsel at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, warned they would allow anyone of any level of experience to take to the skies with readily available inexpensive drone aircraft.

“There will be a significant increase in the risk of a crash between a drone and a passenger airliner and helicopter,” he said yesterday.

Mr Wheeler considering a challenge to the laws if they’re not disallowed in Parliament.

“The message the rules send is one of leniency, deregulation and freedom of the skies.”

Australian Federation of Air Pilots president David Booth told of being warned of a drone while flying a Boeing 737 north of Sydney.

Sydney airport operations had been restricted twice in the past month when drones were spotted near approach paths.

“It is not a nice feeling knowing that this drone is in your airspace,” he said.

A drone crashing into a helicopter’s tail rotor could be catastrophic while one trapped in a jet engine could produce engine failure or fire, he said.

The new rules allow anyone to fly drones weighing less than 2kg without a certificate or licence from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.