Washington – A commercial plane was in a final approach to San Francisco International Airport in November when the crew saw a drone out of the cabin window. By then, it was too late “to take evasive measures,” the pilots reported, and the Quadcopter went through their windshield, not 300 feet away.
A month earlier, an airplane flying at an altitude of 4,000 feet near Miami International Airport when their pilots reported a “close match” with a drone. In August, a drone occurred at 50 feet from the left wing cut of a passenger plane when he left Newark International Airport.
All incidents were classified as “collisions in the air in the air”, any of which could have had catastrophic consequences, according to aviation security experts. Nor were they isolated encounters.
An analysis of Associated Press of a Aviation Security Database It reveals that the drones last year represented almost two thirds of the collisions close to the air that involve commercial passenger airplanes that take off and land in the 30 busiest airports in the country. That was the highest percentage of such failures since 2020, when air traffic fell during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The AP discovered that the first reports of almost failures involving drones were recorded in 2014. The number of such matches shot the following year. During the last decade, the drones represented 51% – 122 of 240 – of those reported near the failures, according to the AP analysis.
Passenger airplanes have been subject to the risks around the airports for a long time, either due to bird strikes or in congested airspace, as the January collision Between a military helicopter and a commercial plane near Washington, DC, which killed 67 people.
The threat of drones has become more acute in the last decade, since the use of quadcopters and remote controlled plans has exploited in popularity. He FAA estimates that Americans are operating more than one million drones for recreational and commercial purposes.
“If you have the money, you can go to the Internet and buy a quite sophisticated drone that can reach altitudes in which they really do not have business,” said William Waldock, professor of Security Sciences Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
The risk is more acute near airports because that is where the flight routes of drones and aircraft overlap, experts said.
Incidents represent only part of such close calls because database – NASA Aviation Security Report System – It is based on voluntary presentations of pilots and other aviation workers. A separate FAA programwhich includes public reports, told at least 160 sightings last month of drones near airports.
“FAA recognizes that urgency, and we all know that additional changes should be made to allow airports to leave and detect and mitigate when necessary,” said Hannah Thach, executive director of the associationknown as the alliance for the security of the UAS system through excellence in research.
FAA said it has taken measures to mitigate the risks of drones. It has banned almost all drones near airports without prior authorization, although such rules are difficult to enforce, and recreational users may not be aware of restrictions.
The agency requires registration For drones that weigh more than 250 grams (0.55 pounds), and such drones are required to carry a radio Transpose That identifies the owner of the drone and transmits his position to help avoid collisions. Additional rules govern the use of commercial drones.
The agency has also been Test systems to detect and counteract Drones near airports. Among the methods that are examined: the use of radio signals to click drones or force them to land. The authorities are also weighing whether to implement high -power microwaves or laser beams to disable machines.
Experts said FAA and other authorities could do more. They suggested to create a system similar to the speed cameras on the roads that could capture a drone transpondent code and send their pilots a ticket by mail.
They also said that FAA should consider regulations that require all manufacturers to program a GPS drone unit to avoid flying near airports and other sensitive areas, a method called “geofencing.”
DJI, a main drone manufacturer, used such geofencing restrictions for years. However, eliminated the characteristic In January, replace it with an alert to drones pilots when they approach the restricted areas.
Adam Welsh, Chief of Global Policy of DJI, said that the management of authorized users requests to temporarily disable geofencing became an increasingly slow task. Last year more than one million applications of this type were processed.
“We had a service during the day, but the amount of applications that entered became very difficult to handle,” Welsh said. “Everyone had to be reviewed individually.”
Without other manufacturers that allow geofencing, and without the rules of the government that required it, DJI decided to finish the practice, he said.
FAA refused to say if it is considering whether to demand geofencing.
The experts said that the authorities should take more aggressive measures to hold drones users responsible for violating restricted airspace, to highlight the problem and dissuade others to break the rules, pointing to recent arrests that expected to be able to send such a message.
In December, for example, Boston Police arrested two men who operated a drone that flew dangerously near Logan International Airport. Police reported that they could find drone flyers, in part, tracking the plane thanks to their mandatory transpondor signal of the FAA.
A month later, a small drone collided with a “Super Scooper” plane that fought against forest fires that extended through southern California. The drone hit a hole in the left wing of the plane, causing enough damage for officials to connect the plane for several days to make repairs.
The authorities tracked the 56 -year -old drone operator, who declared himself guilty of a federal charge of recklessly flying his plane. The man who has not yet been sentenced, He admitted that he launched his quadcopter DJI Observe the damage of the fire over the neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, although the FAA has restricted the drones flying in the area, according to judicial records. The operator lost sight of the drone after approximately 1.5 miles flew from where he had thrown it. And that was when he hit the “Super Scooper”.
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