Authorities will soon be honing in on unauthorized drones at Los Angeles International Airport in an effort to fend off those who fly them near the airport.
LAX is participating in the Transportation Security Administration’s “Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Bed Program” in a bid to better track and identify drones penetrating restricted airspace and to better safeguard planes from accidents, the second such test in the United States, the agency announced.
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“One of the main objectives of the TSA UAS Test Bed Program is to continuously assess relevant technologies and keep pace with the ever-evolving capabilities within the UAS community,” TSA UAS Capability Manager Jim Bamberger said in a press release. “We are leveraging our collective technical capabilities to prevent disruptions within the transportation sector.”
LAX now joins Miami International Airport, which was the first airport to participate in the TSA’s UAS Test Bed Program. The program will use a variety of detection systems such as electro-optical, radar, acoustic, thermal imaging, and radio waves to detect drones and other aerial vessels, per the TSA.
Drone pilots are generally restricted from flying the aircraft within a 5-mile radius of an airport without permission, according to the TSA. Some airports are more restrictive, and some drones, such as those manufactured by DJI, utilize geofencing to keep their products away from restricted airspaces.
Concerns about drones flying too close to airports have become more frequent due to the increased availability of drones for hobbyist drone pilots in recent years.
Since 2021, there have been roughly “90 visual sightings and 5,200 technical detections” within 3 miles of LAX, per the TSA. One drone was detected within 700 feet of a plane days before the Super Bowl.
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Other types of flying vessels found near airports could also pose risks. For example, in 2020, a pilot radioed an LAX control tower claiming to have “passed a guy in a jet pack,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
Data from the program will be used to help the TSA improve its detection technology, and the agency plans to expand the technology to other airports in the future, per the release. The location where the technology is stationed in the airport has not been disclosed, the agency added.
