The United States of America has the busiest airspace in the world.  The FAA monitors 29 million square miles of airspace while 2.7 million passengers travel in the estimated 44,000 flights that cross the country daily.  That is more than 16 billion flights a year.  At peak travel times there can be up to 5,000 planes in the air at one time.  These numbers are only going to increase over time.  There is no denying that between all of the helicopters and airplanes in our skies it is a crowded, logistical headache to manage.  However, the skies are becoming even more crowded by new aircraft: Drones.

Too often we hear stories of drones interfering with FAA approved flights.  It happens all the time, the most famous of these incidents was when a drone shut down London’s Gatwick Airport during the Christmas travel season last year.  This resulted in delaying tens of thousands travel plans and billions of dollars for the aviation business.  The incident caused such an impact that protestors took to threatening to shut down airports by releasing drones so as to hear their concerns met.  What is it about drones being in the airspace that is so problematic for scheduled flights?

Earlier this year the IJAAA (International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace) published a study that made clear the reason why drones pose such a threat to approved flights.  The IJAAA was established in 2013 by the College of Aeronautics of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to provide a place for any valid aeronautical research to be shared for the betterment of the aeronautical industry.  The study about drones, titled “Cleared to Land: Pilot Visual Detection of Small Unmanned Aircraft During Final Approach” was conducted by a team of researchers from the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL and the Oklahoma State University.  According to the study, since the FAA began tracking UASs in 2014 the reported sightings of these drones has steadily increased.  In 2018 there was a record 2,307 incidents reported by pilots, air traffic controllers, or other aviation specialists.  Of these reports 22.8% were reported during a planes final descent.  The study points out that, “The threat of a midair collision between a manned aircraft and UAS is heightened during the final approach phase of flight, as the aircraft transitions from higher-altitude airspace to the low-altitude arena, now shared with drones.”

Unfortunately, almost all aircraft are currently without accurate UAS sense and avoidance systems.  This means that the onboard pilots are forced to have to visually scan the area for obtrusions, while at the same time preparing for the most difficult aspect of their flight- landing safely.  To test just how well pilots were able to detect drones during this stage of flight, the study ran several safety controlled scenarios with aircrafts and drones causing and incursion in the plane’s flight path.  During the test the multi rotor drone would either remain stationary or move laterally while the plane came in for a landing.  To ensure the safety of everyone involved both the plane and the drone were restricted to stay within preset vertical margins to prevent collisions.  It is important to note that in a real world scenario these safety margins would not be in place.

The results of the study found that “participants detected the UAS during 30% of the approaches. The static UAS was only detected during 13.6% of the approaches, at a mean range of 647 ft. The detection rate improved to 50% when the drone was in motion, with a mean detection range of 1,593 ft…based on the recorded detection distance, pilots would only have a limited margin of error to successfully execute evasive maneuvers, based on the FAA’s Recommended Minimum Reaction Time Required for Evasion criteria.”

The study was pretty clear, a drone that is hovering in place is incredibly difficult for a pilot to spot safely.  A drone in motion is somewhat easier for a pilot to detect, but still means the pilot may need to employ an emergency procedure to safely avoid collision.  As of now there has yet to be a case where a drone and a plane have collided.  There have been plenty of near misses especially for fire and rescue aircraft.  It’s only a matter of time before a tragedy truly happens though.  In the meantime the FAA is constantly reminding drone operators to adhere to the regulations put forth in their Part 107 training.  Hopefully this study will shed light on the growing need for aircraft to have working detection and avoidance systems for drones in their shared airspace.

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