Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., warned Tuesday that it’s just “a matter of time” before a privately-operated drone causes a passenger jet to crash in a major U.S. city.
There were 134 “near misses” between planes and drones in October of last year, Nelson said. He also warned that drones might even be more destructive than other objects that can put planes in jeopardy, and recalled that a U.S. Airways flight was forced to land in the Hudson River after hitting a flock of birds.
“If a seagull with flesh and blood and seagull bones and webbed feet, sucked into the engines, can stall out a jet engine, you can imagine what a drone that you buy at Best Buy … made of plastic, [and] metal parts … you can imagine what that’d do,” Nelson said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “And it’s just a matter of time if we don’t act.”
Legislation to provide federal funding for the Federal Aviation Administration has attracted attention in recent weeks mostly because it could lead to a fight between President Obama and congressional Republicans over gun control, but Nelson promised to use the bill to influence the rules surrounding private drone use.
Federal officials have been working to write new rules for the commercial use of drones, but they have delayed their release, citing the complexity of the issue and the process. “You’ve got to understand this is a very complex rulemaking,” James Williams, a top FAA official, told a House panel in January.
Whatever the complexity surrounding the commercial use of drones, Nelson said he’s more concerned about other private actors. “We probably don’t have to worry about the commercial uses such as aerial photography because those users are going to be very careful,” he said. “However, for the hobbyist or the kid that can now go and purchase it, [you can] see the probabilities of an accident waiting to happen.”
The Florida Democrat suggested requiring drone manufacturers to create software that would keep the UAVs away from airports and below the altitude of passenger jets, among other ideas.
“Should there be some kind of registration number? Should there in fact even be licensure?” he asked.
