{"id":1007,"date":"2015-10-20T08:40:44","date_gmt":"2015-10-20T12:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/?p=1007"},"modified":"2015-10-20T08:40:44","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T12:40:44","slug":"drones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/20\/drones\/","title":{"rendered":"Drones"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Drones have been become a hazard to aircraft, commercial or civilian, for some time now. There have been too many close calls and even a few crashes into crowds at stadiums. Now as of Monday, October 19th<\/sup> the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has implemented a mandatory system of drone registration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Per the Washington Post<\/a>, \u201cU.S. officials said they still need to sort out the basic details of the registration system \u2014 which they hope to set up within two months \u2014 but concluded that they had to take swift action to cope with a surge in sales of inexpensive, simple-to-fly drones that are interfering with regular air traffic<\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said, \u201cThe signal we\u2019re sending today is that when you\u2019re in the national airspace, it\u2019s a very serious matter.<\/em>\u201d With so many close encounters between these unmanned and commercial aircraft it is about time that the FAA did something. But, my question is what they are going to do enough? What good does just registering these small aircraft do, will it prevent the many near misses and how about preventing them being used near large crowds of people?<\/span><\/p>\n

Per the Washington Post<\/a>, there have been \u201c12 episodes \u2014 including other incidents in New Mexico, Texas, Illinois, Florida and North Carolina \u2014 were recorded Sunday of small drones interfering with airplanes or coming too close to airports, according to previously undisclosed reports filed with the Federal Aviation Administration.<\/em>\u201d This is just one day, in fact the day before announcing the mandatory registration of drones, \u201cPilots have reported a surge in close calls with drones: nearly 700 incidents so far this year, according to FAA statistics, about triple the number recorded for all of 2014<\/em>.\u201d This is very troubling in the context that drones have become so popular and that people who are flying them do not take into account the fact that they have a responsibility to fly them safely.<\/span><\/p>\n

No one is safe from drones and their irresponsible owners who fly them too close to people, aircraft and buildings without regard to anyone\u2019s safety or privacy; many of the drones now being sold have a camera on board. Even the President of the United States is not safe from the intrusion of there miniature aircraft. The Washington Post reported that \u201cDrones have also continued to pose a headache for Secret Service agents seeking to protect the president, according to the FAA reports.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

On March 29, the Secret Service reported that a rogue drone was hovering near a West Palm Beach, Fla., golf course where President Obama was hitting the links. Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary confirmed the incident. He declined to provide further details but said the Secret Service \u201chas procedures and protocols in place to address these situations when they occur.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Two weeks later, just after noon on April\u00a013, authorities received a report of a white drone flying in the vicinity of the White House. Military aircraft scrambled to intercept the drone, which was last seen soaring over the Tidal Basin and heading toward Arlington, Va., according to the FAA reports<\/em>.\u201d This just proves how even the Secret Service can not stop them from going where they should not be.
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The big question for me is can the FAA really get this problem under control just by registering them or do they have to ban them altogether? Plus will they even be able to setup a registration system in just two months? This is the federal bureaucracy after all and it is not known to move at a rapid pace if it can help it.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike<\/span><\/p>\n

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