Police (UK plods) to get new powers to tackle illegal drone use

[SpinItUp]

BBC News - Airport drone disruption: All UK airports to have 'military-grade' protection kit
'Military' anti-drone kit for all airports

 

[zocalo]

Looks like the official results of the "consultation" last year are out for the general public to read as well.

Taking Flight: The Future of Drones in the UK (5.5MB PDF)

 

[FoxhallGH]

Looks like the official results of the "consultation" last year are out for the general public to read as well.

Taking Flight: The Future of Drones in the UK (5.5MB PDF)

@zocalo - I'm going to open a new thread for this one, as it is worthy of exploration and discussion in its own right I think ... ???

 

[philbr118]

It may raise the awareness that drones (of the Mavic size/weight up anyway), are not toys, and that some serious study has to be done before it's unpacked, charged and flown - BUT - having a driving license didn't stop a terrorist hiring a van and driving it into pedestrians on London Bridge ... I can't wait to get my drone reg' - but you are still going to have those determined few who want to use a drone as a physical or economic weapon getting registrations and still causing mayhem!

I have said this many times, criminals will break the law regardless of any legislation.

 

[chadCO]

Since there isn't even one photo of a drone intrusion at Gatwick or Heathrow.... The official account has no credibility whatsoever. New laws without evidence are draconian.

 

[pross]

All we need is a 401 foot wall around airports.

 

[Slim.slamma]

Since there isn't even one photo of a drone intrusion at Gatwick or Heathrow.... The official account has no credibility whatsoever. New laws without evidence are draconian.

 

[zocalo]

@zocalo - I'm going to open a new thread for this one, as it is worthy of exploration and discussion in its own right I think ... ???

Was in two minds over that myself, but it as it was directly relevant to this thread and another I posted it to I figured see how it went before creating a dedicated thread.

 

[Steve Murray]

And here is the kneejerk reaction we were all expecting. What on earth is a "minor drone offence"????

I'm also keen to see the first case where a recreational pilot is asked to produce registration documents, they don't have any because the CAA still has no registration system, they get arrested because the officer doesn't know anything about drones, media show up and report how irresponsible and ignorant recreational drone pilots are, recreational use should be banned, more powers needed, blah blah blah blah blah.

I'm ashamed of our media and our government. And where the **** is the CAA in all of this??? They claim they want to encourage drone use but I haven't heard a peep out of them since whatever Gatwick was happened, they've sat back and let ill-educated MPs make up stupid and unenforceable laws that clamp down on legitimate, law-abiding drone pilots and do nothing to stop those that actually break the law. What is needed is ANTI-DRONE TECHNOLOGY.

NOT MORE LEGISLATION.

On that note, I'll leave this with the most important part of this BBC article:

The SMAE, or whatever it's called now, have been silent about this, and it must affect model flying clubs all over the UK?

 

[DrRobin]

New drone laws, registration and an online test is not going to make any difference to the idiots who fly their drone close to an airport and up in to an aircraft route. I don't know why these people do such a thing, they only stand a very good chance of loosing their drone.

5km radius around airports seems sensible, it would have been easy to say all class D and above airspace is a NFZ, then we would be in trouble.

5km from the centre of the airport is much easier to manage and determine than 5km from the perimeter and again for a big airport this makes the NFZ reasonable, although expect extensions over the flight path for the big airports.

When I bought a drone a couple of years ago, I knew it wouldn't be long before they were banned, the new laws don't go that far and it comes as no real surprise. Let's hope there are no more stupid occurrences and they leave it as it is.

 

[Myha]

So bringing in these requirements are for the law abiding.
If there was a drone over Gatwick not belonging to the police that is, does anyone actually believe that this repeated offender will be registering, obtaining third party insurance or flying responsibly?
Does anyone know of any irresponsible or criminal types that register with the police or any other agency prior to committing their antics?

These rules are thought up by bloody idiots. This is just like the anti-gun laws in the UK, they are for the responsible Law abiders who never caused any problems in the first place. Criminal carry guns - they do not register their firearm(s).

Talk about the definition of a contradiction or paradox - pathetic!

Oh, I will refuse the ticket also! I like a fight and I'll take it to court. I fight everything - parking tickets, speeding tickets, you name it - and I win or the case never makes it to court. They love people like me, because I jam up the courts.

 

[Lastrexking]

For minor drone offences, police will be able to issue fixed-penalty notices, with fines of up to £100 for offences such as failing to comply with an officer when instructed to land a drone or not showing the registration required to operate a drone."
So - what's a 'minor drone offence'? And who's going to be first to tell a Policeman - "Just back off while I land this Drone please" ....

I would imagine anything that contravenes the current drone flying regulations.

 

[FoxhallGH]

5km radius around airports seems sensible, it would have been easy to say all class D and above airspace is a NFZ, then we would be in trouble.

5km from the centre of the airport is much easier to manage and determine than 5km from the perimeter and again for a big airport this makes the NFZ reasonable, although expect extensions over the flight path for the big airports.

It does appear that boxes 5 Km x 1 Km will be placed on extended centrelines for runways ...
This is the diagram that appears in the latest consultation document ...

 

[NetDep]

Proving the modification of the old adage of, "Never let a good crisis go to waste," with the corollary, "If there isn't a crisis - make one!" Just substitute drone with any tech story and you have it - drones, having been discovered by the media to be "evil" and "tools of terrorism" that can, knowingly or unknowingly. cause a jetliner with thousands on board to drop like a rock from 38k feet - are easy targets because of the ignorance of the masses. The media can report darn near anything and have the sheeple nodding in agreement with their pitchforks du jour and bleat for their immediate destruction - until the media for whatever reason picks up on a human interest story and they become the greatest thing since ice cream!

The downside is there may be some serious damage to the hobby/commercial applications of drones that could prevent some very real contributions and the upside is that the media, in America at least along with the majority of the population, has the attention span of a gnat and will glom onto the next shiny thing - and with the presidential circus about to begin - drones may get a respite!!

 

[FoxhallGH]

There does appear to be a couple of Journalists on our side ... I posted a link in this Forum last week to ask people to contribute to a Guardian article about drones in the UK, as they were actually wanting feedback from users. I was surprised though - I got a lot of nay-sayers responding on this forum, who prefer to complain and make up stories about how the Journo's are only going to be looking for amunition to shoot us down with - rather than take part and provide some positive feedback! I heard a BBC report on the radio last weekend about the use of Drones to deliver medical supplies in Africa, and what a diffrence that was making ... There are some positives about. I've also had some good conversations with friends and business colleagues about drones and how the majority of pilots are following a lot of rules - and I'm finding that a little education goes a long way - as Joe Public in general, believes that we are completely unregulated at the moment ...

 

[Gray52]

Unless someone’s life is in danger the police won’t attend. Some crack addict vomiting in the street and they will be all over it.