OPINION:
Sometimes it’s not easy being a kid. If he unwraps a promising box on Christmas morning and finds a drone, he may invite attention from Uncle Sam. Concerns over the growing fleet of remote-controlled drones, some of them big enough to bring down a Boeing 747 in a mid-air collision, are prompting the aviation authorities to find a way to keep track of who is plying the nation’s skies. Safety in the air is paramount, but the rule-makers must avoid targeting tots with harmless toys if they create a national drone registry.
The U.S. Transportation Department announced Monday that rules governing the use of drones, or “unmanned aerial vehicles” in governmentspeak, will be coming fast and furiously to manage the growth of sky-borne whirlygigs that is expected with the Christmas season. Ranging from miniature $25 toy store models to flying machines costing thousands of dollars and capable of carrying cameras to altitudes of thousands of feet, the drones promise thrills for enthusiasts, but real fear for passengers aboard the airliners.
“The signal we’re sending today is that when you’re in the national airspace, it’s a very serious matter,” says Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, describing a federal system for registering drone purchasers. Drones for recreational use are already banned at altitudes above 400 feet and distances from airports and public stadiums of less than five miles. Despite the guidelines, incidents averaging 100 a month have been reported in which drones fly too close to airplanes, by the reckoning of the Federal Aviation Administration. It suggests that with hundreds of thousands of remote aircraft taking to the air from coast to coast, some operators are blowing off safe practices.
Recommendations from industry and government representatives are due by Nov. 20. That would allow a federal registry to be in operation in time for Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, which arrives a week later. Haste makes waste, though, and devising a system in which retailers would be obliged to collect data on millions of drone purchasers for transmission to federal overseers sounds like full-employment scheme for the bureaucrats.
Transportation on the ground might be the right model for accommodating the proliferation of drones. There are plenty of bicycles on the nation’s roadways, and cyclists usually have enough sense to stay out of the way of motorized traffic, except for riders ignoring stop signs and even traffic lights. Yet there is no national registry for bikes. Most drone operators, once acquainted with the existing rules of the sky, are likely to stay well beneath the assigned flight corridors. Unlike in a video game, there is no “restart game” button after a midair collision.
Deciding where to draw a line between small toys for backyard use and more airworthy machines is the key. An age requirement of perhaps 16 could be applied to the purchase of drones capable of flying above the 400-foot altitude limit. The use of aerial cameras on drones by law enforcement for surveillance and by ordinary Americans spying on each other is a separate issue of privacy to be addressed at state and municipal levels. Rules for the sensible use of drones in commercial enterprises are in the works as well.
A federal registry that scoops up toy drones would be excessive. Regulators must distinguish between kids and culprits, and save their scrutiny for the few who stubbornly menace public safety.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.