{"id":20796,"date":"2015-08-22T00:08:06","date_gmt":"2015-08-22T00:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=20796"},"modified":"2016-06-11T09:42:43","modified_gmt":"2016-06-11T13:42:43","slug":"drones-a-menace-to-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=20796","title":{"rendered":"DRONES: A Menace to Society"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Ground drones now<!--more--><\/h1>\n<h3><em>Bloodshed is inevitable if FAA doesn&#8217;t act fast.<\/em><\/h3>\n<p>Jim Hall<br \/>\nUSA Today<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-OXNqhYcogXI\" class=\"story-asset story-metadata-asset\">\n<div class=\"article-metadata-wrap\">\n<section id=\"module-position-OXNqhS9lTRA\" class=\"storymetadata-bucket expandable-photo-module\">\n<aside class=\"single-photo expandable-collapsed\">\n<h5 class=\"image-wrap\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"expand-img-horiz\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/1394c8f37a585788e783ac3cb27bf18f1aa967d2\/c=75-0-949-657&amp;r=x404&amp;c=534x401\/local\/-\/media\/2015\/08\/20\/USATODAY\/USATODAY\/635756762058248490-AX243-17B9-9.JPG\" alt=\"635756762058248490-AX243-17B9-9\" data-mycapture-src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2015\/08\/20\/USATODAY\/USATODAY\/635756762058248490-AX243-17B9-9.JPG\" \/><br \/>\n<span class=\"js-caption-wrapper\"><span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Alex Brandon<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n<\/aside>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Federal Aviation Administration, which is required to protect <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rita.dot.gov\/bts\/press_releases\/bts013_14\">hundreds of millions<\/a> of passengers who fly the U.S. airways each year,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/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\">continues to permit<\/a> dangerous unmanned aircraft \u2014 drones \u2014 to threaten the safety of airliners every day. It needs to stop these flights until it reclaims its authority over our skies by regulating these vehicles that are untethered by federal law or, in some cases, common sense.<\/p>\n<p>Early this month, two airliners approaching New York\u2019s Kennedy Airport came within<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2015\/08\/01\/us\/drone-airliner-jfk\/\">100 feet of disaster<\/a> on the same afternoon when drones nearly hit them. Hundreds of passengers were placed at risk because the FAA allows these unregistered aircraft to fly in our busiest skies in close quarters with jumbo jets.<\/p>\n<p>These were not isolated incidents. Last year, pilots <a href=\"http:\/\/www.faa.gov\/news\/updates\/?newsId=83445\">reported<\/a> 238 drone sightings near their aircraft. This year, we are on pace to surpass 1,000 with nearly 700 so far.<\/p>\n<p>Just this Sunday, <a href=\"http:\/\/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?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-exclusive%252Bnational\"><em>The Washington Post<\/em> reports<\/a>, the military scrambled fighter jets over Washington to respond to a drone reported in restricted airspace.<\/p>\n<p>It is only a matter of sheer luck that one of these drones has not hit a windshield of an airliner traveling at more than\u00a0500 miles an hour, or gotten sucked into an engine. Jet engines have been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/tech-news\/engine-makers-havent-tested-drones-n408711\">known to fail<\/a> when ingesting 8-pound birds. What would a 55-pound metal drone do?<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-OXNqhYchfYA\" class=\"story-asset oembed-asset\">\n<div class=\"story-oembed-wrap \">\n<div class=\"js-oembed story-oembed story-oembed-usa-today story-oembed-type-link\" data-oembed-type=\"link\" data-oembed-provider=\"usa-today\">\n<div class=\"oembed-asset oembed-asset-link oembed-asset-usa-today\">\n<div class=\"oembed-link-thumbnail\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/9065941e142eb769bb76794c742e08d1e14ee558\/r=300\/http\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/9065941e142eb769bb76794c742e08d1e14ee558\/r=300\/http\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/5d54fdd52f45188956def83de0c8a924a45f94fd\/c=166-0-859-693\/local\/-\/media\/2015\/08\/17\/USATODAY\/USATODAY\/635754301540709565-OURVIEW-2-.JPG\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"module-position-OXNqhYd1x3Y\" class=\"story-asset oembed-asset\"><\/div>\n<p>Helicopters, which tend to fly at lower altitudes, face an even greater danger. Recently, a helicopter on an emergency medical flight in Fresno, Calif.,\u00a0had to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-ln-medical-helicopter-drone-20150812-story.html\">swerve<\/a> to avoid a drone just 20 feet away. A near-miss this time. Can we continue to expect such a benign result in the future?<\/p>\n<p>There are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/pilots-are-spotting-more-drones-prompting-worries-about-collisions-1439498782\">more than a million<\/a> consumer drones in the USA, with more coming on line every day. Yet the FAA has almost no control over where and when they fly. Last year, the FAA teamed up with industry and hobbyist groups to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.faa.gov\/uas\/\">issue<\/a>\u00a0some common sense recommendations, such as not flying drones higher than 400 feet or within 5 miles of an airport, but as we\u2019ve seen they have had little effect. There is a big difference between what is not recommended and what is actually illegal. While endangering an aircraft is already a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/18\/32\">federal crime<\/a>, trying to shoe horn that rule onto unregulated drones is problematic.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-OXNqhYcoexo\" class=\"story-asset oembed-asset\">\n<div class=\"story-oembed-wrap \">\n<div class=\"js-oembed story-oembed story-oembed-usa-today story-oembed-type-link\" data-oembed-type=\"link\" data-oembed-provider=\"usa-today\">\n<div class=\"oembed-asset oembed-asset-link oembed-asset-usa-today\">\n<div class=\"oembed-link-thumbnail\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/9065941e142eb769bb76794c742e08d1e14ee558\/r=300\/http\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/9065941e142eb769bb76794c742e08d1e14ee558\/r=300\/http\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/c6bb6ba32d95f3c2cd31a186e4c291a654fb5717\/c=52-0-2118-2066\/local\/-\/media\/2015\/06\/10\/USATODAY\/USATODAY\/635695506604088149-79970AW005-MODEL-AIRPLAN-18700141.JPG\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Drones do not have to be <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/faa-considering-drone-registration\/\">registered<\/a> and, of course, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/national\/2015\/08\/17\/378696.htm\">d<\/a>o not need <a href=\"http:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/national\/2015\/08\/17\/378696.htm\">identifying transponders<\/a>. In June, two drones flying over a forest fire in California forced large aircraft carrying fire retardants to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/drought\/ci_28615608\/california-wildfires-drones-getting-way-emergency-responders\">abort<\/a>\u00a0their\u00a0missions, costing <a href=\"http:\/\/capitolweekly.net\/drones-firefighters-response-crews-aerial-forest-california\/\">thousands of dollars<\/a>and\u00a0delaying firefighting efforts. At last report, the operators of the drones had not been identified, even after local officials offered a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/innovation\/california-officials-offer-75k-bounty-drones-n401021\">bounty<\/a> for the information. And what is the FAA\u2019s response to such an incident? Officials\u00a0still say they <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/alltechconsidered\/2015\/07\/24\/425652212\/in-the-heat-of-the-moment-drones-are-getting-in-the-way-of-firefighters\">prefer<\/a> public education campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>The FAA did <a href=\"http:\/\/www.faa.gov\/regulations_policies\/rulemaking\/recently_published\/media\/2120-AJ60_NPRM_2-15-2015_joint_signature.pdf\">propose rules<\/a> in February, rules that have been in the works for years. There is no word on when regulations will actually be put in place. Until drones are strictly regulated\u00a0\u2014\u00a0including operating rules, registration requirements and penalties for interfering with other aircraft that have teeth\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the FAA should ground any commercial unmanned aircraft operations. We\u2019ve played Russian roulette with drones long enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ground drones now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}