Ok.....
1) There are dozens of close-calls and near-collisions PER DAY in NAS between manned aircraft. Those don't make the news...
2) Any time there is a manned/unmanned incursion, initial blame is almost ALWAYS placed on the unmanned platform for some reason. Sitting in an aircraft makes a pilot no more safe then when he is operating from the ground. Of all of the Hazardous Aircraft Reports that I have seen/read in my 10 years, NINETY NINE PERCENT of the incidences are the fault of the manned pilot being in the wrong place, not communicating, or otherwise not following the rules. From what I've read regarding this latest "incident", the "I'm an innocent pilot trying to dodge the evil robot airplanes" routine doesn't hold up.
3) Despite the "Fantastic Aviation Administration"'s best planning, regulating, and rule making, mid-air collisions between manned and unmanned aircraft, unfortunately, WILL happen. Accidents will occur, planes will collide, and people will get killed. While that prediction sounds macabre and genuinely is tragic, that has been the story of aviation since before the Wright Brothers got off the ground. If you don't have one, get a copy of the FAR-AIM (Federal Aviation Regulations/Aeronautical Information Handbook) and flip through it. Just about every regulation in that book is there because somebody's death pointed out a need for it. The same is going to be true in the countless rule/regulation revisions that will take place in the next 15 or so years as UAS is integrated into the NAS. It's not going to be , by any means, quick and painless...
4)...or fast. First Wright Brothers' flight was in 1903. The first pilots license wasn't issued until 1927. I imagine the regulation lag will be shorter, but there will still be untrained, uneducated yahoos flying their creations around willy-nilly just as their great grandfathers did 100 years ago.
....so can we stop going nuts every time one of these "stories" pop up on the "news"??
Topic: Another Drone Incident (Read 1677 times)