Cajon Pass, CA—For the last
several brushfires that plagued this severely water parched area, claims were
made that drone sightings delayed firefighting efforts.
Like so many reports by
conventional pilots there’s never a shred of independent evidence such as
videos, photos or the drones themselves.
The overblown and sensational
claims of delayed response threatening lives and property are beyond outrageous.
Let me say that everyone is
aware that conventional firefighting aircraft must fly well below the minimum
airspace altitude.
Camera drones could
conceivably collide with conventional aircraft within nearby airspace. That could be dangerous.
Drone operators don’t want
their drones destroyed, nor do they want their drones to be responsible for any
kind of mishap.
Drone technology is evolving
faster than any wildfire and drones will soon replace conventional aircraft for
these sometimes-risky firefighting missions.
Are pilots making up these
stories to inhibit and delay drone integration into the airspace?
Considering that despite
numerous of reports of near misses there’s still never been a single collision,
video, photo or recovered drone produced.
News reports of these near
misses are sensationally hysterical and terribly misleading.
The nearly two million
multi-rotor camera drones in civilian hands still have a perfect safety
record. No deaths, serious injuries or
notable property damage.
I’m not suggesting that a
collision between a civilian drone and conventional aircraft could never happen.
If the FAA declares wildfire
scenes to be No Fly Zones for drones that are not directly involved in firefighting
or rescue efforts that would be certainly reasonable.
Accordingly, seeing a drone
operator severely punished by the FAA for knowingly entering the airspace near
a wildfire would not offend any reasonable person.
We could however do without
the government manipulated, hyped, Chicken Little media reports on this issue.
