Recently, a study carried out by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) looked into the safety of drones. The results of the study implied that if a drone collides with an aircraft, the effect could be more damaging than when a bird crashes into the same aircraft.

The study looked into airplane manufacturing standards and concluded that policies and regulations need to change. It is necessary for aircraft manufacturing and compliance to adapt to the fast-growing drone technology. The FAA is currently also looking into ways that drone manufacturers can develop better technology that will detect and avoid aerial obstructions such as airplanes.

By the end of this year, it is estimated that there will be about 2.3 million drones in use. The FAA study created computer simulations of collisions between a drone and an airplane. The tests included two types of drones — a fixed-wing Precision Hawk Lancaster Hawkeye III and a DJI Phantom 3 standard quadcopter.  The study was conducted by researchers from 4 universities using drones that weighed between 2.7 pounds and 8 pounds. They researched for over a period of 14 months and with over 140 scenarios. The researchers concluded that drones crashing into aircraft could become an economic burden to operators.

The FAA looked at many simulations and evaluated several hazardous scenarios including fire from the battery of the UAV after a crash. The researchers discovered that the windshield of aircraft is vulnerable to damage, and this one area that manufacturers must improve on their standards.  Since the wide adoption of drones, there have been several recorded incidences of drones crashing into aircraft. The first one happened in Canada in October, but the airplane was only slightly damaged. The drone flew into the plane’s wing but thankfully, the plane was still able to land safely.

The second accident happened in the US and involved a military helicopter. The UAV damaged the rotor blade of the copter and but just like the first, it landed safely.  The FAA is not the only organization that is testing the safety of drones. In the UK, a military research firm called Qinetiq conducted a study on behalf of the UK government. They released the results which revealed that a drone crashing into an aircraft could cause extensive damage to the plane.

Qinetiqs’ results were released as a summary and this created a lot of criticism because they did not show the full methods used in arriving at their conclusions. Unlike the tests ran by the FAA, which included information like the type of tests, simulations and other data.

Because of the incomplete information, the Drone Manufacturers Alliance Europe has demanded that the UK government make the results open so that people can see the full testing procedures and decide if the conclusions are valid.  As a result of the FAA’s study, the Department for Transport has stated that there is a need for more research.

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