Just been interviewed on the Andrew Peach show on BBC Radio Berkshire regarding the recent criminal act of flying a drone close to an airport (Gatwick) and its aircraft.
It is against the law to fly any drone within 1 km of an airport or aerodrome’s boundaries. Anyone doing so is being totally irresponsible and putting lives at risk, as well as committing a criminal offence. Flouting these restrictions could result in an unlimited fine, up to five years in prison or both.
The complete chaos caused by this safety breach is also inconveniencing tens of thousands of air passengers and costing business hard earned revenue.
Even a small part of a drone could potentially put an aircraft at risk. Anything that has potential to collide with an aircraft — especially its windscreen — or get into an aircraft engine could seriously damage the aircraft and put the lives of the pilots, passengers, and those on the ground at risk.
Furthermore, a drone carrying LiPo batteries — that burn fast and hot — are serious risks to aircraft engines.
Let alone the consequences of someone operating with malicious or terrorist intent.
There are potentially technical ways to stop drones flying near an airport:
Signal jamming – It is theoretically possible to block a drone’s signal in a given area. However, this is not straightforward given all the vital hi-tech equipment at an airport.
Hacking – It is technically possible to hack into a drone and take control of it.
Geo-fencing – Many modern, commercially available drones have in-built restrictions to prevent them from flying in sensitive areas such as within 1 km of an airport. However, older models, second-hand drones, cheaper units, and self-builds may lack these safeguards.
Drone-catchers & birds of prey – Drone-catchers can be deployed to bring down illegally flown drones using nets. Birds of prey have also been trained to do this, although their effectiveness is questionable due to the damage drone blades can inflict.
Firearms – As seen during the Gatwick incident, armed police were deployed near the runway to help track down the illegal drone(s) and operator(s).
Sadly, anyone operating outside the law may be able to turn off or interfere with any in-built safety systems or simply turn off the Global Positioning System (GPS) which holds the location-based data which could potentially identify the pilot’s location / identity.
In terms of policing drone activity, responsibility is with the CAA for matters relating to air safety, the police for criminal activity and the Information Commissioner’s Office for breaches of data protection (arising from on-board cameras).
So how do you trace the operator of a drone? It’s not easy currently. If you can seize the drone it may be possible to review the GPS data to identify the pilot and / or his location. Theoretically the pilot should have the drone in line of site, but there is nothing to stop a pilot flying the drone at a great distance to try to avoid detection. This is dangerous in itself as the pilot can’t see what the drone is flying near (other than the camera view) where it can be difficult to judge distance via the monitor alone and the drone’s signal could be interfered with or fail and the pilot could lose control of the drone completely, resulting in its eventual if not immediate crashing to the ground – and hopefully not injuring anyone in the process. But again anyone operating outside the law will simply disregard these safety considerations and any rules.
There are plans, and the ideal would be, to have every single drone registered. Currently it is out for consultation and is due to be a requirement from November 2019 but is likely to be limited to drones over a certain weight and there are the usual issues of enforcement. There would also be issues again with cheap illegal drones and the second-hand and self-build drone market.
I don’t doubt that there are a few incidents where individuals have acquired a drone and misguidedly decided to fly a drone in inappropriate places (airports / aerodromes, other sensitive sites or crowds, for example) but as such drone incidents are increasingly reported this misguided approach seems an increasingly less likely explanation for such incidents. Therefore we can only assume these are deliberate breaches of the law if not something entirely more sinister.
Clearly the operator(s) of these drones are working hard to interfere with operations at Gatwick. With typical battery life of 20 mins, to keep drones airborne for 10 hours or so the operators are either extremely well prepared with a huge number of batteries or access to power sources to recharge on the move, multiple drones and possibly multiple pilots – all making identification extremely difficult.
But these criminals need to be caught not just to restore order to Gatwick’s operations and make the area around Gatwick safe for not just those in the airport but also for residents in the area. But also for the offenders to be seen to be dealt with to the utmost rigour of the law to both aid awareness of the risks of this kind of activity and demonstrate that breaking these rules does lead to serious consequences for the offenders.
ANYONE thinking about flying a drone needs to remember that:
- They are responsible for their drone at all times
- Must keep their drone in clear line of sight at all times
- Stay below 400 feet (120 metres)
- Follow the manufacturer’s instructions (i.e., know how to use your drone – for example, know how to land it safely before you take-off and understand its safety functions and limitations)
- Remain 150 feet (50 metres) from people and property and 500 feet (150 metres) from crowds and built-up areas
- Stay well away from aircraft, airports and airfields – DO NOT fly within 1km of aircraft, airports and airfields