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Drone Proliferation
Drones Breach Airspace and Create Incidents
Hobbyist and commercial drone operations are exploding as different models enter the market. The FAA reports drone sightings to the tune of over 100 per month.
Drone expansion spurs conflict with traditional manned aircraft. Drone operators have caused midair collisions and midair incidents. At right is a photo of the damage done by a police drone to the propeller and engine cowling of a Cessna 172N in Toronto, in August 2021. Any flight can be affected by a wayward drone -- in summer 2020, a drone narrowly missed Air Force One, which was carrying the President at the time.
Risks to manned flight fall into three general categories: nefarious actors, inexperienced pilots, and off-nominal conditions. Nefarious actors wish to disrupt the air traffic system or crash a drone into a plane. Although most drone operators strive to act safely, their inexperience and existing off-nominal conditions are a continuous threat. New drone operators are unlikely to have the skill or knowledge to conform to regulations. Inevitable off-nominal conditions such as heavy winds or lost-link may cause drones to operate in unintended airspace.
To combat this proliferation of unsafe drone operation, pilots need a robust alerting system to increase situational awareness of nearby drone activity.
Remote Identification for Drones: the FAA Mandate
The FAA issued a final Remote ID rule for drones, effective April 21, 2021. Most drones operating in US airspace must have Remote ID capability. Remote ID provides information about drones in flight, such as the drone's identity, location, and altitude, and its control station or takeoff location. Law enforcement can more easily find a drone's control station when the drone appears to be flying unsafely, or where it is not allowed to fly.
Drone Traffic's hazardous drone warning system uses this FAA mandate to gather information about a drone that has entered an airplane's flight path and to broadcast drone warning information to a communications network accessible to aircraft pilots.
Drone - Aircraft Incidents and Responses
Feds Mount Multi-Pronged Response to Drone Intrusions
The federal government is moving quickly to contain the proliferation of dangerous consumer drone activity in airspace. DHS is reviewing privately developed technologies that detect drones at a test site in North Dakota. In addition, the FAA and NASA are developing a joint national air-traffic-control system for low-flying drones. The initiatives respond to troubling reports of increasingly unsafe conditions -- for example, the finding that drone intrusions nearly tripled at Los Angeles International Airport from 2019 to 2020. Read the Wall Street Journal article here.
Drone Halts Quarter Fire Containment
A drone entered the Quarter Fire area near Cedar Ridge, California and grounded all aerial firefighting operations due to safety concerns. Read the Aerial Fire article here.
Errant Drone Nearly Collides with USAF Jet
A drone entered a fighter jet's flight path at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma. The two craft flew within about 1000 feet of each other. The drone caused the interruption of training opportunities for nearly two hours. Read the article here.
Colorado Medevac Pilot Reports Drone Near-Midair
A Flight for Life pilot working for St. Anthony’s Hospital in Lakewood, Colorado reportedly told a Denver television station that a drone passed under his helicopter. “A drone just went right under us, probably about 100 feet...What I care about the most is our survival, our ability to do the mission, and do it quickly and safely,” the pilot said. The same week, drones allegedly had been sighted over Sterling Regional MedCenter, raising fears that drones could endanger emergency medical helicopters in the hospital’s airspace. Read the Sterling Journal-Advocate article here.
Drone Strikes News Helicopter, Forcing Emergency Landing
A suspected drone hit a Los Angeles news helicopter at 1100 feet, damaging the aircraft and forcing an emergency landing. The object blew a hole through the tail of the helicopter. If the object was a drone, it was flying at nearly three times the legal height limit for federal airspace and Los Angeles airspace, both 400 feet. The CNN article mentioned the danger that drones can pose to unsuspecting aircraft and referenced the drone interference with aerial firefighting that occurred during the Maria Fire in California. Read the CNN Alert here.
Drones Interfere with Aerial Firefighting
Two drones entered the area of aerial firefighting of the Maria fire and an additional mountaintop fire in Santa Paula, California in early November, 2019. The drones caused the temporary cessation of the nighttime firefighting. Similarly, a drone interrupted the fighting of the 2015 Lake fire in California. That year, Cal Fire launched a public service campaign to inform drone operators: "If You Fly, We Can't." Read the full Los Angeles Times story here.
A drone delayed firefighting for 30 minutes, during a period of calm conditions considered ideal for firefighting, in Rifle, Colorado's Middle Mamm Creek fire in fall 2019. Read about it here in the Vail Daily.
Drone Collides with Commercial Airliner in Canada
A drone hit an airplane landing at a Quebec City airport, Jean Lesage International Airport. Read the full story here.
Feds Investigate Drone Collision with Army Helicopter near NYC
An Army UH-60 helicopter and a DJI Phantom 4 drone collided east of Staten Island, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Read the full story here.
Drone and Plane Nearly Collide in Las Vegas Airspace
Footage taken by the drone's onboard camera shows a close call between the drone and the airplane. Read the full story here.
Drone Collides with British Airways Jet at Heathrow
A British Airways aircraft carrying 132 passengers was preparing to land at Heathrow Airport when, according to the pilot, it collided with a drone. Read the full story here.
Embry-Riddle Reports on Drone Collision Risk
An Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University report on collision risk with drones is posted here. The report recommends the integration of Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability system usage data into aviation information sharing infrastructure to improve awareness of drone activity.