Washington: In November, a commercial airliner for the International Airport of San Francisco was on the last approach when the crew saw a drone outside the cockpit window. By then it was too late “to take an action,” the pilots said, and the quadcopter was not 300 feet away from its windshield.
A month ago, a jetliner was flying at an altitude of 4,000 feet near Miami’s International Airport, when its pilots reported a “close encounter” with a drone. In August, a drone came within 50 feet of clipping a passenger jet’s left wing as it departed from the Newark International Airport.
According to aviation safety experts, all were classified as a “midar collision” – any of which could have a terrible result. They were not even separate encounters.
An Associated Press Analysis of an aviation security database shows that last year the drone reported nearly two-thirds of midar confrontation that included commercial passenger aircraft, which land and land at the top 30 most busy airports in the country. This was the highest percentage of Mrs. Mrs. since 2020, when air traffic fell during the Covid -19 epidemic.
The first report of the drone was logged in in 2014, AP found. The number of such encounters increased the next year. According to AP analysis, in the last decade, the drone reported to the Mrs. 51% – 122 – Mrs..
Passenger jets have long been subject to risks around airports – whether from bird strikes or congested airspace – as a January collision between a military helicopter and commercial jet near Washington, DC, in which 67 people were killed.
The danger has become more severe that the threat from the drone has become more intense in the last decade as the use of quadcopters and remote-controlled aircraft has exploded popularity. FAA It is estimated that Americans are operating more than a million drones for recreational and commercial purposes.
“If you have money, you can go to the Internet and buy a very sophisticated drone that can reach height, they have no really business,” William WaldockA professor of security science at Embri-Ridal Aeronautical University.
Experts said that the risk near airports is the most intense because it is the place where drones and airplane flight tracts are the most overlap.
The events represent only one part of such close calls because the database – NASA’s aviation safety reporting system – depends on voluntary submission from pilots and other aviation workers. A separate FAA program, including public reports, saw at least 160 of drones flying near airports last month.
“FAA recognizes that urgency, and we all know Hannah TachchThe Executive Director of the partnership is known as an alliance for the UAS system safety through research excellence.
The FAA says it is taking steps to improve security. FAA said steps have been taken to reduce the risks of drones. This has prevented almost all drones from flying near airports without a pre -authority, although it is difficult to implement such rules, and recreational users may not be aware of restrictions.
The agency requires registration for drones weighing over 250 grams (0.55 pounds), and such drones need to carry a radio transponder that identifies the owner of the drone and transmits its position to help the collision. Additional rules control commercial drone use.
The agency is also testing the system to detect and counter drones near airports. In the methods being tested: using radio signals to jam the drone or force them to land. Officials also have to weigh whether to deploy high -power microwave or laser beams to disable the machines.
Experts said that FAA and other officials could do more. He suggested that it is suggested to create a system similar to speed cameras on roadways that can capture the transponder code of the drone and send tickets to their pilots in the mail.
He also stated that the FAA should consider the rules that all manufacturers need to perform the GPS unit of the drone to prevent it from flying near airports and other sensitive areas, a method called “geoofing”.
Drone manufacturer compulsory ‘geoofinging’ DJI, a major drone manufacturer, used such geophing sanctions for years. However, it ended this feature in January, when they approach the restricted areas, replaced it with alerts for drone pilots.
Adam welshHead of the global policy at DJI, stated that the management of requests to temporarily deactivate geoofteing from authorized users became a rapid time -consuming task. Last year, more than such a million requests were processed.
Welsh said, “We had almost clock service, but the number of applications to come was really difficult to handle.” “All of them were to be reviewed personally.”
He said that no other manufacturer enabling geoofinging, and without the government’s rules, the DJI decided to end the practice, he said.
The FAA refused to say whether it is considering whether geoofinging is to make it mandatory.
Drone users can withstand results. Experts said that authorities should take more aggressive action to make drone users accountable to violate restricted aircraft – to highlight the problem and prevent others from breaking the rules, pointing to recent arrests, hoping that they were expected to send such a message.
In December, for example, the Boston Police arrested two people who operated a drone that used to fly dangerously to Logan International Airport. Police said they were able to find drone flyers in the part, tracking the aircraft for their FAA-Opportmen Transponder Signal.
A month later, a small drone crashed into a “super scooper” aircraft, fighting wildfire through southern California. The drone punched a hole in the left wing of the aircraft, causing enough damage that the authorities took the aircraft to the ground for several days to repair.
Officials tracked the 56 -year -old drone operator, who convicted the federal charge of negligent blowing their aircraft. According to court records, despite the FAA flying in the field, despite restricting the FAA, Pacific Palisads Accepted to observe the fire damage in the neighborhood. The person accepted that he launched his DJI Quadcopter. The operator lost the drone vision, when he flew about 1.5 miles away from where he launched it. And when it hit the “super scooper”.
