Earlier this month, we wrote an article about a drone incident at an airport in New Zealand. A plane from Tokyo and landing into the Auckland Airport had a near-miss with a drone. This drone flew way above the standard regulations of 400 feet off the ground. Only through luck, as well as carefully alert eyes of the staff on-board, was tragedy avoided.
Auckland in Question:
Less than a month later, yet another drone incident occurred. The same area, the same airport, and coincidentally, even the same flight from Tokyo to Auckland. This time, however, the drone was so close that the flight crew on the plane thought it would be sucked into the engine. This scenario would surely have taken the plane down. The safety of the crew, as well as the 278 passengers of the fully-loaded plane was in peril.
All because of a civilian drone whose owner didn’t heed the regulations.
The incident thankfully did not have any casualties nor did it leave any damage to the plane. It does emphasize yet again the lax air regulations for this particular airport, as well as drone flight in general. As a result of this incident, the second in the same month, prison repercussions are already circulating. Both incidents had the guilty drone operators vanish from the vicinity. No one even took responsibility for both near-misses.
This really puts the regulations set by drone governing bodies into the spotlight. If fines or fees for going against drone regulations are not stopping the inappropriate use of drones, what will? If the alarmingly increasing rates of near-misses against planes are any indication, we might be in for a dark future. The safety of hundreds of people in travel aircrafts would be at risk every time the plane takes off.
Whatever these governing bodies on drone guidelines have, it sure isn’t enough. We see more and more misuses for drones in public air spaces that puts every drone user to shame. Frankly, it makes everyone of us look irresponsible. Be it stricter regulations or heavier consequences for inappropriate drone use; something definitely needs to happen, and fast.
