DOES the thought of a drone over your garden make you fly off the handle? You鈥檙e not alone.
Attitudes to civilian drones are going through a familiar cycle: first they were welcomed, potentially revolutionising delivery, newsgathering and security. Then prices crashed and a consumer craze took off. Now they mainly make headlines as a nuisance and threat to aircraft.
Although the misuse of new technology is familiar, it鈥檚 impossible to anticipate all its forms. Alexander Graham Bell didn鈥檛 think about telemarketers turning the phone into a nuisance. Email creators didn鈥檛 imagine spam. And when weather balloons were first used in 1896, who would have thought that nearly a century later US truck driver Larry Walters would tether a few dozen to his patio chair and fly into controlled airspace?
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鈥淲ho鈥檇 have thought a man would use balloons and a patio chair to fly into controlled airspace?鈥�
Drones flown for fun are not all small and harmless. This summer a helicopter in California narrowly missed a and a 1-kilogram model knocked out a woman in Seattle. Pilots have reported drones disturbingly close, even 3000 metres up. The (FAA) received 137 such reports in July, up from 36 in the same month last year. A few weeks ago drones flocked above Californian wildfires, grounding . 鈥淚 can鈥檛 believe hobby drones are risking lives to get videos,鈥� said Senator Ted Gaines.
As the backlash grows, irate citizens may take matters into their own hands. Also this summer a Kentucky man shot down a drone he claimed was hovering over his property. Last month an Idaho company began selling . The fears may be overblown but they are not irrational. Fools don鈥檛 read instructions but they can get drones aloft and out of control. Crooks use them to deliver drugs and guns to prisons.
So California is eyeing and the FAA has updated its 1981 , the only federal guidelines for hobbyists. But real change would require repeal of a 2012 federal law .
No one wants to spoil the fun but this regulatory vacuum can鈥檛 continue. As with , we need sensible rules to ensure public safety.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淒rones of contention鈥�
