Modern Flying News

Beware of the No Drone Zones

Thursday, October 14, 2021 at 03:33 PM ET

Verified

A boom of new drone activity expected during the next decade will make the national airspace much more complicated. Courtesy: Skyfire

Key Takeaways:

The rapid increase in drone activity, driven by commercial and public sector use, is significantly complicating national airspace and raising concerns about safety, security, and privacy, as evidenced by unauthorized flights and incidents.
Currently, it is illegal for individuals to shoot down drones, which the FAA treats as aircraft, though specific federal agencies are authorized to detect and mitigate credible drone threats in designated "No Drone Zones."
To manage the projected boom in drone traffic, the FAA and NASA are developing a UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system, which will soon require most drones to broadcast unique identification and location data for better coordination and airspace integration.

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This summer, Los Alamos National Laboratory issued an ominous warning to remote pilots flying drones over the famed birthplace of the atomic bomb.

Thom is a former senior editor for FLYING. Previously, his freelance reporting appeared in aviation industry magazines. Thom also spent three decades as a TV and digital journalist at CNN’s bureaus in Washington and Atlanta, eventually specializing in aviation. He has reported from air shows in Oshkosh, Farnborough and Paris. Follow Thom on Twitter @thompatterson.