Airports and drones don’t mix

Drones are coming and that’s good and bad.  There are currently many thousands of drones, or UASs, in our country, and the FAA has referenced that one million more will be under Christmas trees in December.  

What started out years ago as a model aircraft pastime that sons and dads enjoyed as a bonding experience has become a high power, high dollar industry for commercial, recreational and hobbyist users.  The possibilities for doing good with drones is becoming more evident as law enforcement and first responders are “navigating” incorporating them as a tool in promoting safety and preventing crime.  However, like many technologies, UAS proliferation is moving faster than we can keep up.  Case in point, according to FAA records, since the beginning of 2014, California has the highest number of drone sightings of any state in the country and about one-fifth of the sightings in the first eight months of 2015 have been near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). 

{mosads}Los Angeles has experienced repeated incidents of errant drones that have interfered or could have the potential to cause great harm to basic services like flying and car travel.  The most egregious example took place over the summer as California was battling heavy wildfires that have exhausted our firefighters and caused incalculable damage.  In particular, in July, five drones forced the suspension of firefighting operations which led to a fire jumping over Interstate 15 and torching 20 vehicles.  Two of the drones pursued the lead firefighting plane—one underneath and one over its top—risking firefighter and civilian lives and causing massive chaos.  

We are entering a new technological era that has unlimited and unforeseen potential and opportunity. So, we must balance all of this with basic safety measures, most notably, at airports and LAX and California should take the lead.  The FAA recently announced that it will be testing technology that can identify the drone and its operator and not interfere with any airport operations and communications.  The ability to find the drone operator is a game changer.  Instead of depending on the UAS manufacturer to put a geo-fence chip in the drone which can be easily overridden and/or expecting the drone operator to adhere to restricted airspace rules, the airport will control, via a virtual fence, drone entry onto its grounds and have the ability to stop unauthorized UAS penetration.  Being able to find the operator of the drone gives law enforcement the capability to determine the motivation of the UAS operator and will serve as a strong deterrent to voyeurs and those who are actually wishing to inflict harm.    

As this industry continues to take off, we must get ahead of the potential bad stuff that is sure to come.  We need to start at airports and LAX should be the first.  

McClain is president of the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officer Association which, along with the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association, is a founding member of the American Alliance of Airport Police Officers which has advocated at the local, state and national level on the need for technology that can detect drones, as well as identify the operator/owner of the drone.