Drones are posing an increasing risk to our aviation ecosystem, given the unauthorized ways these are sometimes used in restricted airspace. Along those lines, a JetBlue pilot reported colliding with a drone while on approach to JFK, which is the first known instance of this happening in the United States…
Continue reading: JetBlue Pilot Reports Colliding With Drone On JFK Approach: “It Hit Us Right Above The Cockpit”
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
For certain the drone pilot is a candidate for a Guantanamo Bay ’guest’ experience.
Understanding it might not be able to track down the perp but again start handing out real punishment. Build more jails. Or just have large tents in warmer states. Lowlifes always respond to the threat of real punishment.
I wonder if it will take the downing of a passenger aircraft by a drone to inspire what we should have: a nationwide ban on civilian usage. At this point it should happen prior as it's clear we are headed down this road. Being proactive saves lives.
Guns kill thousands of civilians every year and there's still absolutely no chance of getting a civilian gun ban, so I don't see drones being banned any time soon.
The irresponsible idiots should not merely spend a year in jail. They should be fined significantly and utilized on the highways.
Reopen Alcatraz perhaps George?
No renovation works or other improvements necessary for the lowlife who take a long ‘holiday’ there …. 🙂
Easily resolved with a software update. Over the years, drone manufacturers have implemented numerous software updates notifying the 'pilot' that they are near a restricted area and to ensure they're operating within legal limits, i.e. around aerodromes/airports. It seems to me all they have to do is draw a big circle around airports and extend the elevation above them to, say, 60,000' and disable the drone's ability to operate inside that area. Whether they do so willingly or are forced to by law remains to be seen.
Many of the manufactured Chinese drones already have this built in. But not to the parameters you talk about which I agree would be far safer. However, that does not take into account the plethora of homemade drones that are now flying around and will become significant in numbers over the next few years. Easy build at home drones are a terrorist's wet dream.
I agree. But I don't see drone operators having much of a lobby or powerful money groups to influence Washington politicians. Nor do I see drones as being a "cultural possession" that relates to gun lovers screams of freedom that extend back 250 years.
Has anyone confirmed this was indeed a drone? Strange for a hard, metal, sharp object like a drone to impact an airliner flying between 150-200mph and NOT leave any impact?
Most drones are plastic. There' is some metal in the battery and motor but the rest is plastic, which makes the radar reflection basically 0.
Are we sure this wasn't a wayward Ukraine or Russian drone caught in the jet steam!!
Drones are very useful for mapping, search & rescue and agriculture. Banning them unilaterally because some clown flies it near an airport is silly.
That is not civilian use in the classic sense. Licensed purpose driven drone usage should be allowed for the reasons you outline. I'm talking about Frank, the drone hobbyist down the street. Or, more importantly, the terrorist cells who can make them cheaply now in their garage.