Breaking news on CNN showed two different airplanes interrupted by a drone at one of the nation’s busiest airports, John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). According to audio from both flight radios the drone was within 100 feet of each of the aircrafts.
The first incident happened at 2:24 p.m. with JetBlue Flight 1834 when the pilot spotted a drone approaching the aircraft, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). From the audio recording, the pilot said that the drone flew just under the plane’s nose when the aircraft was at an altitude of about 800 – 900 feet. The second incident happened at around 5:00 p.m. on the same day. This airplane was Delta Flight 407. The flight had 154 people on board. As the plane was preparing to land the cockpit reported seeing a drone below its right wing. Fortunately, neither aircraft needed to take evasive action and both planes landed safely. Though it’s unclear whether the two are related the FAA is conducting an investigation of each incident. (CNN, 2015)
CNN reported it was commented as a “Dangerously close” call. The Delta Flight 407 encounter the drone right around Floyd Bennett Field, located in the Gateway National Recreation Area (GNRA). Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) are not supposed to fly within five miles of an airport unless they notify the airport operator and control tower. Additionally, the regulations for drones includes no flight beyond 400 feet in altitude. To shed some light on the situation, the FAA informed us that they get approximately two reports per day and about 60 per month from pilots saying they spotted an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
This article in particular caught the eye of CNN aviation analyst, Mary Schiayo. Mary knows that even without the latest regulations it is still illegal to fly drones near any major airport, but what she doesn’t understand is why they do it. She believes that with the new penalties, including jail time, from the FAA regarding airport regulations will prevent people from not just flying near airports, but from doing stupid things in general.
According the Phil Derner of NYCaviation.com drones pose a serious danger to large scale commercial flights. Drones can be sucked into the engine or even smash into the cockpit window. These two accidents could be devastating. One, the engine could blow up and get destroyed and two, the pilot may be injured or killed if hit by the drone. However, if we consider some other scenarios like the drone colliding into the wing or another part of the aircraft we may be in a tight situation then too. Just think if pieces of the drone got stuck in the ailerons or flaps of the wing making them inoperative or taking out some of the sensors on the aircraft that reports data back to the pilot. With these incidents the pilot can be consider “blind” when the aircraft isn’t telling them what it is experiencing. They could have a fire in the engine and wouldn’t even know because the sensor got damaged. Each of these events, even just spotting a drone causes distraction for the pilot and is a very dangerous position to be in when there is bad flying conditions or low altitude flying. (Gizmodo, 2013) Looks like Mary had a good reason to be concerned.
Even Karen Walker, the Editor-in-Chief of Air Transport World, believes an airliner full of passengers and crew is going to be brought down after colliding with a drone, sooner than we all expect. She believes the FAA, IATA, ICAO, aircraft manufacturers, the airlines, law enforcement, and governments should be doing something about the quickly intensifying danger that drones possess toward commercial air transportation. The threat to airliners from drones is much more likely and more prominent than airliner tracking, military/CIA communications with commercial air transport authorities, or psychological monitoring of pilots. (ATW Online, 2015)
But this isn’t the only thing that has CNN analyst Bob Baer and Jonathan Gilliam worried. Their concern is focused on how the drones could be used to purposely attack planes. Bob makes a great point: all you need is a drone and 3D printer that makes drones out of explosives. He knows that drones are advancing at a rapid pace and they are very dangerous because of it. Baer and Gilliam believe that airports should consider jamming signals to drones or just “knock them out of the sky.” (CNN, 2015)
Honestly, I think it would be pretty cool to have official “drone testing” for commercial aircraft engines so that we can insure that drones would not be a problem for engine functionality. But it looks like we won’t have to do that. Instead we are going to keep drones out using new advanced anti-drone technology. It will certainly save money and improve efficiency, and since nobody knows what kind of damage can be produced from a drone-aircraft collision it probably isn’t worth it.
Former chief investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, Ben Berman, thinks that drone manufactures should install software that, restricts their flight to keep them within regulation of the FAA, before selling them to the consumers. The FAA has hinted at a software update for all drones known as “geo-fencing” which may provide a short term fix for airport safety, but does not require all small drone manufactures to install this update. (Scientific American, 2015)
DJI, one of the best-selling-drone manufactures, based in Shenzhen China, has already taken action. They are the makers of the world’s most popular small drones. Since 2014, DJI has produced drone firmware updates to enforce the restricted airspace around airports, Washington D.C. or national borders. Operators that ignore the software warnings will find their drone’s non-operational and basically “brain” dead. This new software that enables what drones can and cannot fly over is known as a type of “geo-fencing system.” The basis of the system is using the drones built in GPS to compare it to areas on a map. If the drone is trying to enter a no-fly-zone or restricted area the geo-fencing system will activate and send a warning to the pilot via an app that they should stop entering or exit the area. If the pilot decide to ignore the warnings the drone will refuse to listen to the pilot and not enter. (Fortune, 2015) As DJI’s Michael Perry said, “It’s like flying into an invisible wall.” (Scientific American, 2015)
However, there is a self-authorization option that will enable pilots to fly in specific locations if they create a DJI account. In order to make an account, you will need to verify a credit or debit card and a mobile phone number, but the information will be available if there are legal investigations of flights. Other than that the information will not be collected or stored for any other purpose. The self-authorization system does not works for national security locations such as Washington. According to Brendan Schulman, vice president of policy and legal affairs at DJI, “This is an example of the technology empowering operators to make smart decisions.” (The New York Times, 2015)
Based off the new regulations, various companies other than DJI have decided to join the FAA’s registration task force. Some of the parties interested in helping to influence the regulations include, Google, Amazon, GoPro, Parrot, and 3D Robotics. (The New York Times, 2015)
Even though drone testing airplanes seems like a real blast, it looks like everything is being handled pretty well without it. The benefit of implementing regulation into technology may help to spark new ways of integrating technology and the law together that can further protect our society. The FAA has teamed up with Consolidated Analysis Center Incorporated (CACI) International, a federal IT, intelligence, and military contractor, to test “technology that identifies unmanned aircrafts near airports. They have made programs called “Know Before You Fly” and “No-Drone Zones” to raise awareness about the areas drone operators are not allowed to enter. (DefenseOne, 2015) Even NASA is getting involved! Currently they are researching the technology to create an air traffic system that could track small, low altitude drones. (Scientific American, 2015) Looks like drone proofing airliners is out and added new regulation software to the main drone is in.
References
2 airliners fly within 100 feet of drone above New York. (2015, August 3). Retrieved on March 2, 2016, from CNN website: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/01/us/drone-airliner-jfk/
What Happens When a Drone Hits a Plane? (2013, March 13). Retrieved on March 2, 2016, from Gizmodo website: http://gizmodo.com/5989318/what-happens-when-a-drone-hits-a-plane
A drone is going to bring down an airliner: Why are we waiting for that to happen? (2015, July 21). Retrieved on March 2, 2016, from Air Transportation World Online website: http://atwonline.com/blog/drone-going-bring-down-airliner-why-are-we-waiting-happen
How to Stop People from Flying Drones into Airplanes: The risk of collisions is on the rise as more civilians buy multicopters. (2015, September 9). Retrieved on March 2, 2016, from Scientific American website: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-stop-people-from-flying-drones-into-airplanes/
Why Your Drone Can’t Fly Near Airports Anymore. (2015, November 18). Retrieved on March 2, 2016, from Fortune website: http://fortune.com/2015/11/18/dji-geofencing-airport/
Drone Maker DJI Adds Technology to Limit Where Its Machines Can Fly. (2015, November 17). Retrieved on March 2, 2016, from The New York Times website: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/17/drone-maker-dji-adds-technology-to-limit-where-its-machines-can-fly/?_r=0
Fly Your Drone Near an Airport, and the FAA May Hijack It. (2015, October 8). Retrieved on March 2, 2016, from Defense One website: http://www.defenseone.com/threats/2015/10/fly-your-drone-near-airport-and-faa-may-hijack-it/122658/
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