My great-grandfather (b. 1918) once told me a story about his father and their first automobile. It was a 1920s Star Touring Car, equipped with a cloth top, side curtains and a steamboat whistle. The salesman taught my great-great-grandfather how to drive in just one lap around the barn. There were no driver’s licenses and few traffic laws. Naturally, my great-grandfather drove the car into a ditch the first time he took the family to town.
While the invention of automobiles was followed closely by traffic laws, there was a period of time when people were expected to just be competent with the new technology. Some might say we’re in a similar position with civilian drones today. As more lay-people have gained access to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) — an estimate puts the number of drones sold in the U.S. since 2013 at more than a million — there have been an increasing number of occasions in which drones have been misused. Still, legislating civilian drone use doesn’t yet seem to be a priority for much of the nation. In this period of bureaucratic freedom, I propose that drone enthusiasts be mindful of how and where they use their drones.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is, technically, the agency that manages drone regulation. Current FAA laws pertaining to drones are ill defined and difficult to enforce, however. A Sept. 20 article in the Los Angeles Times lays out these few laws: “Don’t fly within five miles of an airport or in no-flight areas; don’t interfere with manned aircraft; and keep the drone in sight.” Not surprisingly, all three of these rules have been repeatedly and famously broken in the last year.
There were several instances this summer of civilian drones interfering with firefighting efforts. In June, planes dropping water on a lake fire were stopped after a drone — gathering footage of the fire — thwarted their efforts. Again in July, five civilian drones prevented helicopters from dropping water onto a Los Angeles freeway fire for up to twenty minutes. After these incidents, the California Fire Department launched the “If You Fly, We Can’t!” initiative, which focuses on the dangers drones pose for rescue and firefighting operations.
In August, a drone carrying 28 pounds of heroin traveled across the U.S.-Mexico border; this is not the first or last instance of cross-border drug smuggling via drones. They’ve been known to drop drugs or other contraband over prison walls, to a point that law enforcement officials once found 17 cell phones in one inmate’s cell.
Obviously, successful drops is tiny next to the number of thwarted attempts. There have been dozens of close calls over restricted airspace, as drones — some the size of washing machines — repeatedly fly within a few dozen feet of commercial airliners. A drone crashed into a seating area at the U.S. Open; though no one was injured, the teacher flying the drone was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, reckless operating of a drone and operating a drone in a New York public park outside of the prescribed area. Perhaps one of the most famous drone incidents happened last January, when a drone crash-landed in a tree on the White House lawn. Apparently, whatever drone ‘laws’ there are now, they are ineffective.
So what might we do? Legislatively, there are plenty of options: push for state governments to advance ‘geo-fencing’ (disallowing certain advanced models from flying in particular airspace, like an invisible fence); implementing a serial number registration system so the FAA can punish those whose drones turn up at the scene of a disturbance or crime; or, like SB 168 in the California Legislature, allow firefighting crews to knock drones out of the sky and impose sharper penalties on violators.
I think these kinds of laws are unnecessary. The real solution should be something more pragmatic: be smart about flying your drones. Don’t let them leave your sight. For crying out loud, stay out of busy airspace. I wouldn’t want to be the cause of an airliner explosion and I’m sure not many drone hobbyists would. When there are fires, or parades, or popes — follow the law. Whatever you’re using your drone for — filming video, experiencing the pseudo-thrill of flight — recognize that your decision not to fly your drone responsibly will ruin it for everyone else. This is not to say that the day they start heavily regulating drone use is the day the use of drones becomes no fun; we still use cars for fun sometimes, right? More likely, though, we’ll be forced to apply for permits, to obtain special licenses, to commercialize our private drone use. Sure, this might be inevitable regardless, but give us some time to enjoy the car before we’ve got no chance to put it back in the ditch.