[Peetwo]

4D's ticking time bomb on drones -

A day after miniscule DDDD_MNFI came to the rescue with his drone safety message the Oz came out with another drone related article:

..A sharp rise in the sale of drone aircraft is putting pressure on the Turnbull government to shield Australians from threats to their privacy, as federal MPs warn of the risks from cheaper devices with increasingly powerful ­cameras.


A government decision to ­reject tougher privacy laws has ­ignited a debate over the spread of airborne devices with zoom cameras, turning the issue into a political flashpoint in the year ahead.

The privacy debate adds to a push in federal parliament for stronger safety measures to keep drones away from buildings and people, after the Civil Aviation Safety Authority last year relaxed the rules on recreational craft lighter than 2kg.

“With lower cost and higher quality drones on the market, their prevalence is continuing to increase drastically,” said Liberal MP Michael Sukkar, who heads the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security.

“It’s therefore even more important that rules to protect the community’s privacy and safety are updated to keep pace with these changes.”...

This was 4D's non-committal, caught between a rock and a hard place contribution to the article... :

Transport Minister Darren Chester said consumers had a responsibility to consider the safety and privacy of others as “the penetration of drones into our lives will increase in the years ahead.

“It’s a question of making sure we get the benefits without the negatives.”

However if the miniscule would care to listen, from the Senate Estimates thread "K" provides a timely back to Reason & reality wake up call for 4D:

Ducks; all in a row then?

...It is however, unacceptable that the Australian agencies pose, preen, pretend and spend a lot of money selling the notion that they are ‘world class’. There has never been a better example of this than the stark, black and white difference between what the ‘real’ safety agencies do and the Australian aping of them. It has so far been; and, probably will remain, a disgraceful, expensive exercise demonstrating how truly inept the second rate service provided to a nation really is. Thank the gods we have a caring, intelligent, knowledgeable, proactive minister to take charge and sort out the mess. (ROFLMAO)...

..Aye; the new, officially sanctioned catch phrase for 2017 - "DUCK".

And Binger provides 'free of charge' a real expert industry view on what the aviation safety bureaucracy feel is acceptable safety risk mitigation laws on drones:  

Binger on Submission 11 VIPA (PDF 251 KB) & 34 Qantas Group (PDF 275 KB) -

Via the Oz today:

Drone law ‘may spur collisions’
12:00amMITCHELL BINGEMANN
Pilots from Qantas and Virgin say easing the rules around drones could lead to collisions with passenger jets.

Pilots from Qantas and Virgin Australia have hit out at laws that deregulate the commercial operation of remotely piloted aircraft, saying the rule relaxation could lead to a collision between drones and passenger planes.

The warnings come as a Senate committee investigating the safety implications of the new rules — allowing commercial operators to fly without a licence drones weighing less than 2kg — received close to 70 submissions.

In its submission, Qantas chief pilot Richard Tobiano said the airline feared increasing numbers of untrained and uneducated drone pilots could jeopardise the airline’s operations.

“The Qantas group remains concerned by the prospect of a collision between an RPA (remotely piloted aircraft) … and an aircraft, particularly within the vicinity of airports. Against this context, it would be opportune for the airline industry to confirm best-practice processes in managing the ramifications of an ­incident ahead of time,” he said.

Mr Tobiano, as well as chief ­pilots from Jetstar and QantasLink, said it was imperative that law enforcement agencies and regulators collaborate to identify and prosecute rogue pilots who flout regulations and put aircraft and people’s safety at risk.

“As with lasers and model rockets, this regime should involve education of — and strategic and tactical co-ordination between — state and federal law enforcement agencies, local ­government and CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority).

“Critically, it must also include a comprehensive suite of offence provisions and penalties to ­ensure general and specific deterrence,” said Mr Tobiano.

Qantas provided computer simulations with its submission showing that while significant damage to an engine would occur following a drone collision, such an ingestion would be unlikely to result in a serious incident. However, the airline said a drone collision would still pose a “significant source of risk to aircraft operations.” “Given the combustibility of some batteries and the ingestion of the device itself, the ­damage that such an impact would cause to a turbine engine and/or to an aircraft full of ­passengers and fuel could be very significant,” Qantas said.

Under the recently relaxed rules, from September 29, commercial operators flying drones under 2kg no longer need approvals. The amendments still will ­require operators to obey standard flight rules, which are not to fly within 5.5km of an airport, not above 400 feet, not within 30m of buildings, railways or vehicles, and to always have visual line of sight of the drone.

But the amended rules mean drone operators can fly into controlled airspace as long as they are 5.5km away from airports.

Pilots from Virgin Australia’s union, VIPA, also warned of the risk that deregulating the commercial operation of drones weighing less than 2kg could pose to passenger jets.

“Launching a drone close to an airport, particularly in proximity to an uncontrolled aerodrome, exposes aircraft (which are often jet powered) to the risk of collision which could result in substantial damage, loss of control and potentially, loss of life,” said VIPA president John Lyons.

“Collision with an UAV could be considerably more dangerous than striking a bird.”

According to the Australian Airline Pilots’ Association — which represents more than 5000 professional pilots — there have been more than 160 sightings in the past year of drones in airspace that should be free of any collision risk. “By way of illustration of what we might expect in the future, albeit from the admittedly much larger US market, the FAA now receives about 100 reports a month from pilots who say they’ve seen drones flying near aircraft and airports, compared with only a few sightings per month last year,” the association said.

“It allows virtually uncontrolled recreational operation and minimal control of commercial operations of the sub-2kg category and, while there are rules in place, there is no requirement for training, licensing or registration of these RPAs, many of which are capable of operation at high speed and at considerable height.”

Tick..tock indeed 4D -



MTF...P2