Keep drones flying straight

In 2013, a small drone was flying over a crowd of people as German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered a speech. Authorities identified the operators and ordered them to land it. They did right at Merkel’s feet.

Last July, a drone flew within 20 feet of an Airbus A320 as it landed at Heathrow Airport in London. Terrorism experts immediately sounded the alarm, warning that unmanned aerial vehicles could be used as flying bombs to take down passenger aircraft.

And in Washington just this January, a two-foot remote-controlled drone — the kind that can be bought at Radio Shack — crash-landed on the White House lawn, of all places.

As these close encounters of the jittery kind multiply, the public might be forgiven for thinking that Canadian authorities were on the case, tightly regulating the use of drones here. Especially as security experts warn that terrorist organizations are experimenting with arming drones with explosives, biological and chemical weapons, and incendiary devices. Unfortunately, our regulators are still scratching their heads.

As the Star’s Tonda MacCharles reported this past week, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have warned the government that drones pose a terrorism threat to critical infrastructure. And Transport Canada has been studying tighter regulations for 41⁄ years. But things are still in the

2 “consultation phase.” That’s hardly reassuring.

Worse, Transport Canada is taking the view that responsibility for countering terrorist use of drones lies chiefly with the federal Public Safety Department and the police. That’s not overly reassuring, either.

As the use of drone technology explodes in the U.S. and elsewhere — industry analysts see it growing into a multi-billion-dollar business in the next decade — it may be near-impossible to stop some terrorist from getting hold of one for criminal purposes. But there are ways to make it harder to deliver a payload on a critical target.

In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration is proposing that operators of small commercial drones be certified, fly only during daylight and keep the drones in sight at all times. In most cases, they wouldn’t be allowed to fly over people. And they would be forced to fly under160 km/h, and below 500 feet. The FAA is considering tighter regulations for smaller, hobby-size drones, as well.

Beyond licensing, the Canadian government could also ban drones from overflying Parliament or other legislatures, military facilities, airports, bridges and other key infrastructure, power plants, major sporting events and the like, says Jeremy Laliberté, a professor of aerospace engineering at Carleton University. Some of these regulations are already in place. They could be expanded.

And Canadian regulators could work with manufacturers to create ways to let the authorities quickly identify who is flying a drone, says Kristen Thomasen, a specialist in drone regulation at the University of Ottawa. Drones could be equipped with a “signature” that would identify the owner, just as a serial number identifies a gun owner or a licence plate a car owner. It’s early days yet. Even the FAA is struggling with this issue. But as use spreads for everything from news gathering to crop dusting and power-line inspection, the need for tighter regulation becomes more urgent.

Canada issued 1,672 permits for drones over 35 kilograms in 2014, up from just 66 in 2010. And that doesn’t include smaller drones that are not regulated. The U.S. expects to field 10,000 applications when the new rules come into effect.

For the moment, commercial considerations are paramount, not fears of terrorism. But “if something happens, you can bet the topic would rapidly climb to the top of the agenda,” predicts Angela Gendron, a senior fellow with the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University.

Better that Canadian regulators do their due diligence sooner, rather than later. Let’s have some rules to make sure that drones fly straight.

Canada needs policies to prevent commercial drones from being used for attacks