COUNTRIES NEED EFFECTIVE REGULATION ON DRONES

The menace of unauthorised drones has now made its appearance at the Dubai International Airport (Stray drones at Dubai airport delay flights; KT, Feb. 16). Now that they have cameras and a menacing name, drones are set to be very popular internationally. The US Federal Aviation Administration predicts there will be thousands of civilian cargo drones in US airspace by 2022. The threat of drones making sudden appearances in restricted aviation zones poses a lethal and deadly threat to commercial aviation. The grim possibility of drones being flown near manned-aircraft must be urgently addressed before we witness a major disaster.

The drone expansion from military to commercial and in recent years to civilian usage is becoming a real and growing threat to the safety of commercial aviation as stated by IATA at the Singapore Air Show in 2016. A British Airways flight from Geneva has had a near miss with 137 passengers and crew on board. In 2016, a drone was recorded delivering illegal drugs to inmates at Wandsworth prison in London. Last year, a drone narrowly missed a Boeing 737 after it took off from Stansted Airport in the UK.

Civil aviation authorities must make sure that the radio spectrum used to control drones does not interfere with air traffic control systems. Incidents in the US reveal drones hindering emergency services efforts in fighting fires.

The civil aviation administration in Dubai and around the world must take the threats of drones and powerful laser pointers seriously to avoid aviation tragedies.

— Farouk Araie, South Africa