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The ability of UAVs to interfere with airliners – and to hinder their pbadengers – is now demonstrated on two continents and the problem is likely to worsen as the number of small unmanned aircraft increases.
Law enforcement officials are trying to determine who flown a drone so high and so close to the Newark Liberty International Airport that incoming flights were stuck for a rush hour in the morning. one of the busiest airports in the country.
The flights resumed about 30 minutes later, much faster than after a similar incident last month at Gatwick Airport in London.
Here are some common questions that readers have about these incidents and brief answers.
WHAT HAPPENS TO NEW JERSEY?
Southwest Airlines and United Airlines pilots reported seeing a drone about 1,000 meters above Teterboro, New Jersey, about 15 kilometers from Newark Airport on Tuesday.
As a precaution, the Federal Aviation Administration has blocked 43 flights already in flight to Newark; nine landed instead in other airports. Another 170 planes bound for Newark were briefly delayed on the ground before taking off from other airports in the country.
No video of the drone reported has surfaced.
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WHO USED THE DRONE?
The authorities have not determined that. The FAA has alerted the New Jersey State Police and the FBI.
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CAN WE BE SAFE WHERE IT IS A DRONE?
Some drone operators are skeptical about a drone reported at 3,500 feet and whether pilots in a jet aircraft could accurately identify such a tiny object.
Vic Moss, one of the founders of Drone U, a school of UAV operators based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said that many consumer drones could not achieve this goal, although the home-made devices or older drones are not. There are, however, online videos showing drones at such altitudes.
"It's possible, but it's incredibly unlikely that it's a drone," Moss said. "The drones are the new UFO."
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What happened in London?
In mid-December, hundreds of flights were canceled and over 100,000 people were stranded or delayed for two days after drones were spotted near the Gatwick Airport runway, a hub major international
A few days later, the police arrested two men living near the airport but then cleared them, and no other suspects were identified. Police also said that two drones found near the airport were not involved in the disturbance.
A few weeks later, a reported drone would have briefly interrupted flights departing from London Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world.
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WHY DOES IT COME?
If the intrusions into New Jersey and London have been deliberate, the grounds are unclear. Officials in London said there was nothing to indicate that the Gatwick incident was linked to terror. A criminal investigation was opened on the Heathrow incident.
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WHAT ARE THE LAWS ON FLYING DRONES NEAR AIRPORTS?
Federal rules prohibit the use of a drone within 8 km of most airports or more than 120 m (400 feet) without waiver from the FAA.
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ARE MANUFACTURERS OF DRONEES RESPONSIBLE?
The devices of the largest manufacturer of consumer drones, DJI, include so-called "geofencing" – a technology designed to prevent the plane from taking off near an airport. A drone that is properly launched but enters a no-fly zone will hover at the edge of the zone, according to a spokesman for DJI.
The owners say that DJI can take days to unlock no-fly restrictions, even for smaller airports. But DJI says these requests are now automated and processed quickly.
However, many drones offered for sale do not include such restrictions: they do not have GPS or geofencing.
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Can operators disable security systems?
Yes. There are online discussions in which drone operators talk about piracy, but they involve a certain level of technological sophistication.
"Protective gates (from manufacturers like DJI) are in place, but in some cases they can be defeated – it's not easy," said Tom Kilpatrick, a drone pilot who founded a racing company. drones in Oklahoma. "They are designed to prevent the average UAV operator from flying close to an airport."
UAVs built at home would probably not have the same security features.
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WHAT DO YOU DO TO PREVENT THE DRONES FROM INTERFERING?
DJI says it has developed a technology to track nearby drones – their flight path and the position of the operator – with the help of mobile units located on the ground.
The technology is currently only used to identify other DJI drones.
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What do airports do?
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the Newark Airport, said in a statement that officials of the agency had met last week with counterparts from the FAA, the FBI and the US Department of Transportation. Homeland Security, to revise and improve drone detection and interdiction protocols. "A spokesman provided no details and declined to say whether the airport was endowed with anti-UAV technology.
After the Gatwick incident, British officials announced that they had deployed anti-UAV equipment at other airports in the United Kingdom, although they gave little details.
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Are stricter rules in place?
At the end of last year, the Congress entrusted the departments of Homeland Security and Justice with the power to develop and deploy a system for identifying drones and to neutralize or even destroy drones considered by the authorities as a threat.
FAA spokesman Greg Martin said any such system should be designed with care so as not to interfere with the navigation equipment used by the aircraft.
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Associated Press reporter Julie Jacobson in New York contributed to this report.
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David Koenig can be reached at http://twitter.com/airlinewriter
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This story has been updated to correct the fact that DJI says that a drone entering a no-fly zone will fly over the area, will not return to its launch site and will land on its own.
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