FAA records detail hundreds of close calls between airplanes and drones

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

National Security

By Craig Whitlock August 20 at 5:20 PM 

On Sunday, a swarm of small rogue drones disrupted air traffic across the country on a scale previously unseen in U.S. skies. ... At 8:51 a.m., a white drone startled the pilot of a JetBlue flight, appearing off the aircraft’s left wing moments before the jet landed at Los Angeles International Airport. Five hours later, a quadcopter drone whizzed beneath an Allegiant Air flight as it approached the same runway. Elsewhere in California, pilots of light aircraft reported narrowly dodging drones in San Jose and La Verne.

In Washington, a Cessna pilot reported a drone cruising at 1,500 feet in highly restricted airspace over the nation’s capital, forcing the U.S. military to scramble fighter jets as a precaution. ... In Louisville, a silver and white drone almost collided with a training aircraft. In Chicago, United Airlines Flight 970 reported seeing a drone pass by at an altitude of 3,500 feet.

All told, 12 episodes — including other incidents in New Mexico, Texas, Illinois, Florida and North Carolina — were recorded Sunday of small drones interfering with airplanes or coming too close to airports, according to previously undisclosed reports filed with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Before last year, close encounters with rogue drones were unheard of. But as a result of a sales boom, small, largely unregulated remote-control aircraft are clogging U.S. airspace, snarling air traffic and giving the FAA fits.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/faa-records-detail-hundreds-of-close-calls-between-airplanes-and-drones/2015/08/20/5ef812ae-4737-11e5-846d-02792f854297_story.html

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This was the front page, above the fold article in Friday's Washington Post.

[HFRN]

1. completely inevitable, sadly nt

[nichomachus]

2. We need a law

that says you can only fly drones in the airspace over property that you own. Period.

[Demeter]

3. We need a law that bans drones for everyone, especially governments, police and military

along with landmines, cluster bombs, the big ole Nuclear, biologicals, chemicals, torture, and, oh yes, WAR.

Time to grow up and be somewhat humane.

[nichomachus]

5. I agree

but that's not going to happen in our lifetimes. So, I'll settle for keeping drones out of public airspace or out of the airspace over my house.

Here in CA, we've had two incidents recently in which firefighting efforts were hampered because drones were interfering with the water-drop aircraft. That should be an automatic 20 years in jail for the perpetrator.

[jeff47]

7. We already have a law.

These drones are regulated under the same regulations for remote controlled planes. Which include things like not flying near airports or not flying above 500 feet.

So a new law isn't particularly useful when they won't obey the old one.

[Vinca]

16. Maybe airliners should have a capability to knock drones in their airspace out of the sky.

I have no idea how you would do it, but if the penalty for nearly causing a plane crash was losing your expensive toy, it might make them think twice.

[jeff47]

17. Problem is the drone will land somewhere.

And while a drone impact would not be good, it should be roughly like a bird-strike. It shouldn't make a commercial aircraft crash.

[Vinca]

18. Bird strikes have definitely caused crashes.

Remember Sully Sullivan landing on the Hudson River? That was a bird strike. If a drone gets sucked into an engine the consequences could be dire.

[jeff47]

19. No, that was something like 10 bird strikes.

Remember, he hit a flock of birds. Not one.

If a drone gets sucked into an engine the consequences could be dire.

First, they build the engines to handle the ingestion of a bird. They don't build them to handle the ingestion of several birds at once.

Second, a drone being sucked into one engine is at worst bad for that engine. There's another engine on all commercial aircraft.

Meanwhile, a drone plummeting from the sky landing on someone's head will definitely be bad for that person.

Better to have it hit the plane than fall uncontrolled in a populated area.

[Vinca]

20. Sully agrees with me.

http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/250093-hero-pilot-predicts-drones-will-cause-plane-crashes

[jmowreader]

15. Or over public property designated for drone flight

Flying drones over City Park, or on a farmer's field that allowed it, would be fine.

But come on kids...being surprised that drone users would fuck with airplanes and spy on their neighbors is right up there with Captain Renault being shocked to find gambling going on at Rick's.

[City Lights]

4. Something needs to be done about this now. Not after a disaster occurs.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. Why does a group of unthinking disrespectul assholes have to ruin it for everyone?

like those off-road all terrain vehicles that wreak so much devastation in our public lands and forests, destroying wildlife habitat, running over desert tortoises and other reptiles and uprooting essential plants in fragile ecosystems. I would ban all drones from private sales unless each one can establish its own private signature with GPS tracking so we know who owns it and who sent it into a forbidden area so that we can incarcerate that bozo.

[2naSalit]

9. +1

[Jerry442]

8. "Drones" have been flying for years.

They're called R/C airplanes. Yes, some commonsense regulation of drones, like dividing them into weight classes with more limitations on the heavier ones would probably be a useful thing to want to do, but right now the "crisis" seems to be mostly in the minds of the FAA.

Really, if you want an education in remotely piloted aircraft, drop in sometime to a local R/C fly-in. You'll see some big, fast, incredibly sophisticated flying machines that have been out there for decades without causing anyone to clutch their pearls.

[Capt.Rocky300]

10. Apples and oranges.....

R/C airplanes and even helicopters are flown, and often built by hobbyists. And as you said, it's usually done at fly-ins and/or by clubs, some in dedicated areas with runways. These folks strive for authenticity in their models and to be best the best pilot they can be. It's about enjoying the hobby and doing it in a responsible way.

Far too many drones are being operated by anyone who can afford one, operated from their own property (backyard) and with what seems to be little regard for the law or other's peoples safety or privacy. If these folks were so interested in R/C flying why didn't they join a club or hang out at the hobby shop years ago?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. Right. There have been people hanging out by the railroad tracks, taking pictures

of trains, listening to railroad communications on their scanners, and posting online about train movements for years. They're called railfans. There's nothing nefarious about them. They just look suspicious:

Wronged Side of the Tracks?

By Don Phillips November 15, 2002

On a balmy Sunday afternoon late last month, Richard Whitenight did what he often does on his days off: He went to a busy railroad junction in Fort Worth to watch the trains roll by.

But as he sat making notes about passing freight trains, two police cruisers approached. Over the next five hours, Whitenight -- who works for the police department in nearby Arlington, Tex. -- identified himself to the officers. Then he identified himself to the officers' supervisor, then a detective from a terrorism task force, then the FBI. They seized his trainspotter's notebook and grilled him about every mark and note in it. They searched his car and took photos of it, inside and out. Finally, he had to sign a form agreeing never to return to the location known as Tower 55.

Whitenight is one of thousands, perhaps millions, of people around the world who spend much of their time observing and photographing railroad operations out of a love for trains. In general, railroads have encouraged these "railfans" as long as they do not trespass or interfere with operations. Railroads even hold contests to use railfan photographs in calendars, and the Association of American Railroads has started a Web site to encourage the hobby.

But after the FBI announced last month it had credible reports that al Qaeda might be targeting railroads, a growing minority of railfans have been questioned and sometimes searched. A handful have even been threatened with arrest, for pursuing a hobby they have embraced for years. ... Law enforcement officers and train crews have been told to be on the lookout for suspicious characters asking detailed questions about railroad operations, taking notes and taking pictures of trains. It appears the descriptions of "terrorist" and "railfan" are the same.

[Capt.Rocky300]

12. I am one of those railfans and a model railroad builder.....

A couple years ago a BNSF cop saw me standing next to the tracks near my home with something in my hand. He came over to have a chat and I explained that I was using paint samples to try and match the colors of the rails, ties and ballast for my model railroad. I had reservations about doing it but figured an overweight 60+ year old with gray hair doing it out in the open for all to see wouldn't look all that suspicious. Besides, I could just explain what I was doing. He was cool with that.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

13. This is where I was on Sunday, November 3, 1968:

Last edited Fri Aug 21, 2015, 04:01 PM - Edit history (1)

Steam excursion from Roanoke, Virginia, to Shenandoah, Virginia, and return

I'm not the photographer. I was on the train. The trip cost a whopping $11.

[Capt.Rocky300]

14. Very cool