Pilot Had to Swerve to Avoid Drone in South NJ After JFK and EWR Incidents

Here's an interesting article on the number of near misses with aircraft. It has a nice little map also
FAA records detail hundreds of close calls between airplanes and drones Washington Post

If you insist on flying your drone near an airport you deserve hard time. The potential loss of life is too great to continue playing games.

Here is a no drone no fly zone map

https://www.mapbox.com/drone/no-fly/?embed=true#5/39.842/-96.064

I guess I understand the concern, yes we don't want anything near our commercial aircraft. However, they test jet engines at full speed with air-canon fired frozen turkeys. Most drones are smallish chunks of plastic. I would think that the jet would take it in with minimal damage and keep on ticking.

Scott Ellis, post: 332880, member: 7154 wrote: Here is a no drone no fly zone map

https://www.mapbox.com/drone/no-fly/?embed=true#5/39.842/-96.064

Thanks for the link Scott.

toivo1037, post: 332889, member: 973 wrote: I guess I understand the concern, yes we don't want anything near our commercial aircraft. However, they test jet engines at full speed with air-canon fired frozen turkeys. Most drones are smallish chunks of plastic. I would think that the jet would take it in with minimal damage and keep on ticking.

Many drones are several feet across. They contain more than enough material to trash the engine of a commercial airliner. Even the smaller ones contain enough metal to cause serious problems. It is also important to remember that every airport has aircraft constructed prior to FOD protection design.
As I said, the risks are too great...

Scott Ellis, post: 332880, member: 7154 wrote: Here is a no drone no fly zone map

https://www.mapbox.com/drone/no-fly/?embed=true#5/39.842/-96.064

This map must have been put together by a GIS expert. I notice that the south end of Renton Municipal Airport is not within the limits of said "no fly zone". Having been there yesterday I can attest that this airport is the home of the Boeing 737 plant and there are several departures a day of bright green brand-new airplanes departing over the city not to mention the constant buzz of general aviation.

I agree that sadly a disaster will need to happen before the alarm bells toll. The answer needs to come from a smarter man than I.

Dan

Witnessed an interesting event during my morning constitutional on the bay. A drone pilot (nice one, GPS and live camera feed) appears, sets up and *bingo*, his controller locks up with the error message "no-fly zone." Turns out his latest firmware update maps the no-fly zones worldwide and disables the drone from taking off or entering a no-fly zone. We were within a mile or so of a major airport.

There's an organization that allegedly allows you to add your own property to the no-fly zone list:

noflyzone.org

Here is where I think it is headed (and should!)

Hobby-type drones, up to 200 feet agl, same as now

Professional drones (aerial imagery, lidar, etc):
1) planes must be licensed and ID numbers attached and visible

2) require a flight plan be filed with FAA, they would need to create formats, etc and have a central office be responsible to receive the plans, approve them, and let other ATC facilities know
3) operator must be licensed (pilot, not surveyor), maybe they need to create a drone operator license similar to private pilot but with different qualifications
4) ADS-B out so that position and altitude and ID show up on radar and on other planes' ADS-B in devices

Once they do that, I believe the skies will be safe. Unfortunately, it may take an accident with loss of life to get the FAA to implement this. Let's face it, the hobbyist community vastly outnumbers the professional users

A single piece of shot from a shotgun shell doesn't weigh very much and is very small but if it enters your body in just the right place with adequate momentum.........you will die. Jet engines are very susceptible to major problems from relatively small items attempting to go through them. Find an old car with a real radiator fan blade set up. Then cut out a one-inch square piece from one fan blade. Fire up the engine and learn a valuable lesson about harmonics.

There is a recreational pilot's license for ultralights. It's amazing how compliant to airspace restrictions they are when they - and not just a camera - are part of the cargo ...