Gatwick airport, UK’s biggest airport suspended flights amid fears of collisions with objects after an unidentified drone was seeing flying near the runway, causing major disruption during the busy holiday season.
It is against the law in most countries including the UK to fly a drone higher than 120 meters or in restricted airspace such as near an airport. But it is difficult for the police to track the operator of the drone and jamming the signals used to control the drone could be risky in an airport.
So how can rogue drones be regulated?
Authorities world over are trying various methods. In France, there are penalties up to five years in prison and fines of 75,000 euros for unlawful use of a drone.
In America, certification is needed to fly a drone with rules for it to be within the line of sight, during the day in uncontrolled space without flying over people not involved in the operating the drone. Special waivers are also available, provided that those operating beyond the allowed regulations meet supplementary security requirements.
The UK may create additional regulations such as registering with the government to purchase drone weighing more than 250gms and tests for operators on piloting skills and knowledge of the laws.
Even with these rules in place, not everyone will respect them. One of the simplest counter-action proposed is throwing nets at the offending drones, but fear that the weight of the captured drone may well overpower the drone hunter. Meanwhile, shooting a drone in sensitive areas such as airport is fraught with risk.
A more successful regulatory approach has been to systematize voluntary network of “no-go” zones, built into the control software of the drones- these block flight within certain radius of sensitive areas like stadiums or airports, although experts warn that those limitations are only software blocks and can be easily hacked.
Disabling drones by intercepting their control signals by anti-drone systems is being evaluated by the government and military but it is unclear as to who has the authority to stop drones that pose a threat to public safety as of yet. Currently, it is clear that the drone technology moving much faster than the regulators.