Without nearly enough fanfare, some excellent guidance on a subject that is becoming increasingly critical for pilots was released two weeks ago. Entitled Flight Safety in the Drone Age(FSDA), it is a three-page document that should be read and digested by every pilot. While the FAA has enacted regulations concerning drone operations and the respected Academy of Model Aeronautics has long provided best operating practices and training programs for unmanned aircraft, until now there has been little in the way of educational material for pilots when it comes to protecting themselves in a world where the number of registered drone operators exceeds the number of manned aircraft pilots and the danger of unmanned—manned inflight collision is steadily increasing.
Flight Safety in the Drone Age was developed by the Permanent Editorial Board of the Aviator’s Model Code of Conduct (AMCC) initiative, an organization dedicated to providing tools for pilots that advance aviation safety and citizenship. It admits an unpleasant fact right up front—we’ve relied on “see and avoid” for aircraft separation in VFR flight operations since Orville and Wilbur built their second airplane, and with the small size of many drones and their ability to change direction very rapidly, “see and avoid” has to be augmented with piloting techniques and potentially, technology, to reduce the risk of mid-air collisions.
While drones do fall under the definition of “aircraft,” the level of knowledge about, and willingness to comply with, aviation safety requirements on the part of their operators varies greatly. FSDA recognizes the potential problem with human nature and drones—just as there are pilots that are stupid enough to fly low over a crowded beach because they think it’s cool, there are drone operators who will try to see how close they can fly their drone to an aircraft in flight. FSDA also mentioned something that was more than a little chilling to me: drone operators may decide to fly their drones at night (unlighted) and in IMC in controlled airspace.
Drone Capabilities
FSDA encourages pilots to get to know drone regulations and the capabilities of drones that are on the market to develop a feel for what drones can do and how they can potentially affect the airplanes a pilot flies during various phases of the flights a pilot plans to make. It particularly warns helicopter pilots about the risk of colliding with a drone because the majority of drones do stay below 400 feet AGL and a significant proportion of helo flights are at low altitude.
There are restrictions on drone operation within certain distances from towered and non-towered airports, however, in many cases, the airport operator can waive those restrictions. Right now there is not a lot of information available on where drones are operating and there is not yet a standardized reporting procedure or method of transmitting information to pilots. That means asking airport management if drone operation is permitted near your airport and aggressively seeking drone operation information during preflight planning. If there is going to be drone operation in an area you are planning to fly, also find out the “loiter” points for the operation(s) as that is where the drone is programmed to go and loiter if it loses it link with its operator.
In flight, Flight Safety in the Drone Age states that your risk is highest below 500 feet AGL and makes recommendations as to what to do during the phases of flight when you are at lower altitudes. Putting it bluntly, don’t mess around down low if you can avoid it—make your initial climb aggressively, then transition to a cruise climb so you can see what’s in front of you and delay descending to pattern altitude so that you won’t get there well before arriving at the airport. Some years ago I quit scud running because of the proliferation of towers just waiting to snatch airplanes out of the sky when the weather gets murky. I wrote a column for AVweb about it, because I think that pilots have to make decisions for themselves and so should understand what’s involved with scud running. To me, the proliferation of drones has added a large, heavy brick on the it’s better to fly high side of the fly low versus fly high balance scale.
If there’s a forest fire, there’s usually a TFR to protect the fire bombers, but not always. Even if there isn’t it’s a good idea not to fly over events that attract the attention of the public such as disasters and crime scenes because they not only attract news helos, they attract drone operators like politicians to microphones. Areas of great natural beauty are also drone magnets.
The Drone Operator’s Focus
Keep in mind that the drone operator is probably concentrating on operating the drone and collecting images/video rather than paying attention to whether there are other aircraft in the sky, even if you have taken the sensible precaution of turning on every light on the aircraft. Do you still want to fly low?
If you are going to fly low, be intensely vigilant—it’s not the time to be head-down in the cockpit. Make a decision now, right now, as to what part of the aircraft you prefer to be hit by a drone, because you may only have enough time to maneuver to avoid impact at a very vulnerable spot such as the windshield.
As to impact, you can’t intentionally hit a drone or shoot one down. They are aircraft—and disabling an aircraft, any type of aircraft, is a federal offense, a felony.
The editors of FSDA recommend reporting hazardous drone operations to the FAA as it does a number of positive things—it may result in a drone operator being heavily fined (and if a pilot, having his certificate suspended), support education efforts about drone operations, get media attention that gets the word out to drone operators that there are sanctions acting like a knucklehead and adds to a database on drone operations that may help the development of sensible regulations and repeal of ones that don’t work. Also—file a NASA (ASRS) report of the hazard you observe; the database it builds is of great value. If you have a near miss with a drone, ask ATC to file a Near Mid-Air Collision report.
I applaud the editorial staff of the Aviator’s Model Cod of Conduct initiative, especially Principal Michael Baum, for the work they put into creation of FSDA and that it will be updated as more is learned about drone operations and their interaction with piloted aircraft. They make it clear in FSDA that this is an emerging field and that people plots often rely on for safety information, such as controllers and airport management, may not yet have in-depth knowledge about drones. They encourage pilots to inform themselves and act as ambassadors to inform others in the aviation and local communities about drone safety.
There are already many statutes and ordinances regarding drone operation around the county. While those that attempt to regulate flight operations are probably void due to complete preemption of regulation of the national airspace system by Congress and the FAA, localities do have the authority to regulate the location of airports and landing fields. FSDA recommends that pilots stay involved locally with issues of drone operational safety, especially near airports.
Conclusion
We’re going to learn a great deal about the interaction of drones with the piloted aircraft world rapidly. I’m hoping that it’s a long time until the first mid-air occurs and that the accident rate stays below that of aircraft/deer collisions (about one percent of aircraft accidents). Thank you to the editorial board of the AMCC for the work they did in getting Flight Safety in the Drone Age out to pilots and their willingness to update the document as more is learned.
Oh, and since you’ve read this far, take a look at the Aviator’s Model Code of Conduct website—it has a lot of good, thoughtful stuff.
Rick Durden is an aviation attorney, a CFII, holds an ATP with type ratings in the Douglas DC-3 and Cessna Citation and is the author of The Thinking Pilot’s Flight Manual or, How to Survive Flying Little Airplanes and Have a Ball Doing It, Vols 1 & 2.
