FAA warns of drone-plane collisions as use widens
THE MILLIONS of small civilian drones plying the skies in the US can cause significant damage to airplanes in a midair collision, new research commissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration has concluded.
While most drones weigh only a few pounds, they include motors and other metal equipment that could cause significant damage to aircraft engines, windshields or wings upon impact, the study by an FAA research centre found.
Even though airliners and other aircraft are designed to withstand impacts from birds, “it doesn’t mean they are going to be able to withstand a four-pound or an eight-pound UAS impact,” said Gerardo Olivares, a researcher at Wichita State University in Kansas who helped lead the study. He referred to drones as UAS, or unmanned aerial systems.
Last month the FAA said reports of drone-safety incidents, including flying improperly or getting too close to other aircraft, now average about 250 a month, up more than 50 per cent from a year earlier. The reports include near-collisions described by pilots on airliners, law-enforcement helicopters or aerial tankers fighting wildfires.
The agency estimates that 2.3 million of the devices will be sold for recreational use in the US this year. As of Nov. 3, more than 838,000 people had registered with FAA as owners of small, civilian drones.
A separate set of tests released by FAA released earlier this year found that small drones popular with hobbyists and some commercial photographers were unlikely to cause serious head and neck injuries if they fell from the sky and hit people. A study by researchers at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, reached similar conclusions.
Current regulations in the US and Canada include provisions designed to prevent drones from operating near aircraft. In most cases, drones are supposed to stick to low altitudes below where aircraft operate and they aren’t allowed to fly near airports without special permission. But the upswing in reported safety incidents suggest that many unmanned operators either ignore the rules or don’t know them.
The risks from drones is far from theoretical, based on data collected about impacts with birds. Aircraft collisions with birds and other wildlife have killed 262 people around the world since 1988, according to an FAA report released last year. A flock of geese brought down a jetliner in New York in 2009, though it was able to touch down on the Hudson River and no one died. — Bloomberg
Even though airliners and other aircraft are designed to withstand impacts from birds,it doesn’t mean they are going to be able to withstand a four-pound or an eightpound UAS (unmanned aerial system) impact. — Gerardo Olivares, researcher at Wichita State University