By Andrew Cengiz
Four days ago a New York bound passenger plane almost collided with an unmanned drone on its initial descent into Laguardia airport. Four months ago the FAA proposed rules for the “Operation and Certification of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems”. Four months ago and those rules still are not in effect! But even when they are in place they are missing one critical ingredient: restrictions on manufacturers. The FAA needs to form restrictions on manufacturers of drones and they need to do it quickly!
The proposed rules would call for the licensing of drone operators and limiting the altitude a drone can fly to 500 feet or less. Manufacturers could easily restrict how high their drones fly and if the law says that they shouldn’t go higher than 500 feet why not make that rule for the manufacturers?
Another feature that manufacturers can build into their drones is Geofencing capabilities. Geofencing uses GPS and radio frequencies to restrict drones from flying in certain locations such as around airports or over the White House. If a drone flies into this area it will simply start to shut down and land itself. But there’s a problem with that. The drone manufacturers have to upload the coordinates of those restricted areas into the firmware updates in their drones. It’s their choice. One of the biggest manufacturers, DJI, made a mandatory update to their drones on their own. But there are many more manufacturers that haven’t. The FAA needs to immediately make it a mandatory rule for all drone manufacturers to upload geofencing coordinates for all areas around airports and other sensitive locations and they need to do it now before more planes with people on board hit a drone.
Last, and this may be the most controversial point, but the FAA needs to make it law that all individuals must register their drone upon purchase. What, like a gun?! Are you nuts? No but here is what is nuts. According to an article on wired.com titled “Why the Government is Terrified of Hobbyist Drones” there are dangerous possibilities with drones. At a summit held by the FAA and the Department of Homeland security a video was shown of a lower cost drone firing semi-automatic guns. They also had on exhibit drones that were strapped with dummy bombs. They also “flashed photos from an exercise that pitted $5,000 worth of drones against a convoy of armored vehicles. (The drones won.)”
While these changes need to be made to the FAA’s drone rules, they just need to pass something quickly. With all the near misses with airplanes, drones landing on the White House lawn and Enrique Iglesias having his hand sliced, this isn’t something that can wait. People’s lives are at stake. National security is at stake. And, by golly, Enrique Iglesias’ ability to play the guitar and swoon us is at stake. Those stakes are too high to move this slowly.
What do you think, should there be tighter, quicker restrictions on drone flight or should we add an amendment to the constitution, the right to bear drones? Comment below.
The proposed rules would call for the licensing of drone operators and limiting the altitude a drone can fly to 500 feet or less. Manufacturers could easily restrict how high their drones fly and if the law says that they shouldn’t go higher than 500 feet why not make that rule for the manufacturers?
Another feature that manufacturers can build into their drones is Geofencing capabilities. Geofencing uses GPS and radio frequencies to restrict drones from flying in certain locations such as around airports or over the White House. If a drone flies into this area it will simply start to shut down and land itself. But there’s a problem with that. The drone manufacturers have to upload the coordinates of those restricted areas into the firmware updates in their drones. It’s their choice. One of the biggest manufacturers, DJI, made a mandatory update to their drones on their own. But there are many more manufacturers that haven’t. The FAA needs to immediately make it a mandatory rule for all drone manufacturers to upload geofencing coordinates for all areas around airports and other sensitive locations and they need to do it now before more planes with people on board hit a drone.
Last, and this may be the most controversial point, but the FAA needs to make it law that all individuals must register their drone upon purchase. What, like a gun?! Are you nuts? No but here is what is nuts. According to an article on wired.com titled “Why the Government is Terrified of Hobbyist Drones” there are dangerous possibilities with drones. At a summit held by the FAA and the Department of Homeland security a video was shown of a lower cost drone firing semi-automatic guns. They also had on exhibit drones that were strapped with dummy bombs. They also “flashed photos from an exercise that pitted $5,000 worth of drones against a convoy of armored vehicles. (The drones won.)”
While these changes need to be made to the FAA’s drone rules, they just need to pass something quickly. With all the near misses with airplanes, drones landing on the White House lawn and Enrique Iglesias having his hand sliced, this isn’t something that can wait. People’s lives are at stake. National security is at stake. And, by golly, Enrique Iglesias’ ability to play the guitar and swoon us is at stake. Those stakes are too high to move this slowly.
What do you think, should there be tighter, quicker restrictions on drone flight or should we add an amendment to the constitution, the right to bear drones? Comment below.