Dangers to airliners from small UAVs may be more hype than substance
The threat of a hobbyist flying a small, light, remotely piloted aircraft into the path of a commercial aircraft may be overblown due to the rigorous certification standards already in place for other unidentified flying objects—birds. Those rules cover the airframes, empennage, windshield, engines and certain sensors for birds weighing as much as 8 lb. while the aircraft is traveling at speeds greater than 300 mph. Joining the birds are a new generation of quadcopters, exemplified by devices like the DJI Phantom Vision 2+, a quadcopter that weighs around 3 lb. and has a top speed of 19 kt., characteristics similar to a large gull except for the lithium polymer battery. Priced at $1,200, the Vision 2+ comes complete with gyro stabilized camera mount, and those who have tested it say it has an operating range of almost 0.5 mi. and flight time of 20 min. Photos and videos can be sent to social media in near real time, raising the temptation for doing something extreme that will go viral on the Web.
A version of this article appears in the November 24 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology.