Ethics in Aviation
Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
As a drone operator and owner, I am a huge fan of flying and taking photos with drones. Without proper training and ignorance in the drone industry, we could have catastrophic accidents. So far I have found no incidents with fatal accidents but have found several near misses, or drones hitting aircraft and causing delays in landing. "An Airbus A320 pilot reported seeing a helicopter-style drone as the jet was 700 feet off the ground on its approach to the runway" is an example of a near miss with an aircraft. There was no collision or injury, but the pilot reported this as a grade "A" rating meaning "serious risk of collision." The article states that due to this drone not reporting on the radar, they were unable to identify the drone. The drone also disappeared after this interaction.
If this operator were to be caught for this near accident, he would have been charged with Violating Traffic Regulation §16.2.90. This can result in an arrest, a $300 fine, and/or 90 days imprisonment.
1.) Heathrow plane in near miss with drone. (2014, December 7). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30369701
2.) Karanja, P. (2023, July 27). Can I Fly Drone in a No Fly Zone? https://dronesourced.com/guides/can-i-fly-drone-in-a-no-fly-zone/
This is probably an issue of the drones being too small to be picked up by our radars. This is a huge issue for air traffic control and may eventually lead to improvements in radars in the future if it becomes a growing problem. Luckily, for the pilot and crew, there was no contact with the aircraft. If it had been sucked into the inlet of the engine it would have caused catastrophic damage and cost millions of dollars and man-hours to fix, or worse the life of the crew and passengers.
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