5 times

[Slim.slamma]

5 Times It Wasn’t A Drone After All

Don’t believe the hype

 

[Meta4]

5 Times It Wasn’t A Drone After All
Don’t believe the hype

Pilots (and journalists) are led to believe the airways are swarming with drones since they hear so many (mostly false) reports of near misses.
Just like new drone flyers are convinced their drone is likely to fly away after reading so many misleading forum posts about another flyaway.

 

[sar104]

The issue of mis-identified drones is certainly real - statistically it almost has to be. But that is a very silly article - it is, itself, the very epitome of cherry picking data. And one of its data points isn't even confirmed, which is even worse because it makes it look like they were struggling to find examples. And there is at least one other documented example of a drone and helicopter colliding, aside from near misses. A part of the problem with the publicity around drones is exactly the kneejerk response of a segment of the drone community itself, in shouting "fake news" almost every time a pilot reports seeing a drone, together with the incessant posting of that stupid "drone identification" graphic, which I'm sure will make an appearance on this thread very soon.

There are plenty of drones in the airspace, and the number is increasing fast. And there are plenty of irresponsible pilots - we know this because they regularly boast about it on YouTube and forums like this one. As a result, drones and aircraft are going to end up close enough to each other for pilots to see them occasionally. Some reports will be more credible than others, but the level of dismissal and outright ridicule on display among drone pilots every time this happens is very counter-productive, not least because it gives the impression that air traffic conflict is not being taken seriously.

I think that the best response to many of these reports is simply to point out that they describe events outside the operating capability of stock consumer and professional drones, and that the industry, in collaboration with national aviation agencies, is doing a pretty good job of regulating itself. Provided that no one notices all the threads complaining about, and asking how to bypass, NFZs, altitude limits and other controls, then it might even be convincing.