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1 1 (September 03, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdbqi0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Protecting Against Rogue Drones Updated September 3,2020 As of September 2020, the Federal Aviation Administratin (FAA) had registered about 1.7 million unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), oftenreferred to as drones. More than 70% are operated by recreational users. FAA estimates that by 2024, about 2.3 million UAS, including 1.5 million recreational drones and model aircraft and about 800,000 commercial UAS, will be registered to fly in U.S. airspace. As the UAS market expands, there may be an increasing risk that roguedrones that either failto obey s afetyrules or are operated for nefarious purposes could threaten manned aircraft operations, airports, critical infrastructure facilities, and high-profile events. These concerns haveprompted Congress to examine options for detecting and interdicting drones. The FAA Modernization and ReformAct of 2012 (P.L. 112-95) mandated that FAA develop a plan to integrate UAS into the national airspace and promulgate regulations allowing certain commercial drone operations. In 2016, FAA issued regulations (14 C.F.R. Part 107) allowing routine operations of commercial UAS weighing less than 55 pounds so long as they are conducted during daylight hours, in good visibility, and at low altitude, provided the drones remain within the operator's visual line of sight and away from airports and manned aircraft. FAA may grant waivers to these restrictions on a case-by-case basis. UAS flown strictly for noncommercial purposes, including recreational drones and radio-controlled model aircraft that can sometimes be rmuch larger than the 55-pound limit for commercial UAS, were exempted from these rules and, instead, operate under safety guidelines set byrecreational user groups. Like commercial operators, recreational users mu st register with FAA and may do so through an online registration system The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-254) imposed additionalrequirements for hobbyists, limiting recreational drone flights to altitudes below 400 feet and mandating testing to assess operators' knowledge of airspace and s afety regulations. FAA is in the process of implementing these testing requirements. ',- kss f>zts Worr UAS These requirements thatrecreational drones remain at low altitudes and that operators learn safetyrules were imposed following close calls and collisions with manned aircraft. Between 2016 and 2019, airline pilots reported, on average, more than 100 drone sightings per month to FAA, and socialmedia have transmitted photos and videos taken by drones in close proximity to airports and passenger airliners. In September2017, a hobby dronelaunched from a parkin Brooklyn, New York, was intentionally flown beyondits operator's line of sight and collided with aU.S. Army Black Hawk helicopterpatrolling a temporary no-fly zone around New York City. The helicopter landed safely, but the incident damaged the main rotor assembly, where fragments of the drone were found. The following month, a drone struck a chartered turboprop near Quebec City, Canada. That aircraft also was damagedbut managed to land safely. According to National Transportation Safety Board data, there have been threeconfirmed collisions between drones and manned aircraft in the United States so far, and a similar number of manned aircraft havebeen damaged fromincidents that plausibly involved UAS. FAA-sponsoredresearch has found that collisions with drones weighing eightpounds or less cancause more structural damagethan collisions with birds of similar weight. Experts fear that a colsion between a small drone and a manned aircraft, or a drone being ingestedinto ajet engine, couldbe catastrophic. Airport officials have treated dronethreats with considerable caution. In December 2018, hundreds of flights at London's Gatwick airport were canceled over a three-day period after multiple drone sightings near the runway. Three weeks later, London's Heathrow airport was also briefly shut down due to a drone sighting, as was Newark-Liberty Airport in New Jersey in January 2019. In addition to careless and reckless drone operations, homeland security and law enforcement agencies have uncovered incidents involving drones transporting ieg al drugs across U.S. borders, dropping contrabandinto prison yards, and conducting industrial espionage. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned of an escalating threat thatterrorists and criminal organizations might launch domestic drone attacks on critical infras tructure facilities, landmarks, and high-profile mass gatherings, citing the use of reconnaissance andweaponized drones by insurgents in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. In 2011, the FBI thwarted a terroristplot to attackthe Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol with explosives -laden model aircraft. FAA has encouraged UAS manufacturers to incorporate technology that couldreduce theriskofrogue operations, such as built-in geofencing capabilities thatprevent the drone fromentering airspace that is off-limits to UAS. These systems, however, may not have current information, as they usually require theoperator to keep airspace data up to date. FAA has also developed the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) systemto dis seminate information regarding low-altitude controlled airspace in the vicinity of airports and to grant airspace access to certain commercial UAS operations on a case-by-case basis. In the future, FAAenvisions that these resources will be integrated with Remote Identification capabilities to monitor compliance. The FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 (P.L. 114-190) required FAA to develop standards for the remote A A '2

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