As someone who has been in the drone industry for a while now, I make it a point to be aware of news stories that have the potential to affect the industry’s future.
I’m especially concerned with professional pilots, as the commercial side is what is going to drive the industry forward. If you are a commercial pilot, it’s important to pay attention to what might be looming on the horizon for your business.
As an industry, we should do our best to both mitigate the potential harmful effects moving forward and help raise awareness.
1. Flying Near Aircrafts
As you know, drones have to fly below 400 feet at all times and never within a five-mile radius of an airport.
Being unaware of this crucial information can cause significant damage to aircrafts through unforeseen collisions.
Such crashes have the potential to be deadly in dire situations, while having the definitive ability to bring bad press which can be quite detrimental to the whole industry.
2. Accidents Caused by Drones
Unfortunately, more and more drone pilots are demonstrating casual behavior towards the accidents being caused by drones.
In the recent past, such complicit behavior has brought significant damage to people by random drones flying into them or their cars. Such incidents not only bring a world of pain to the injured but can also be detrimental to the industry in the near future.
To mitigate this, we must make sure we are all following stringent safety standards and make sure other pilots are aware of them as well. (It’s also wise to use a GPS tracker in case your drone does lose control and fly away).
3. No Regulation on Unlicensed Pilots
According to laws and regulations, most drones have to be registered with a license. But recent findings have brought to light that only four licensing enforcements have taken place in the past few years. In those, only one of them was against an unlicensed pilot, who was also let go without a warning.
This laid back approach to licensing enforcement could only lead to more accidents (similar to the ones I mentioned above). This is an important pain point that needs to be followed by regulatory agencies.
4. The Stigma Associated
Whether we like it or not, we cannot deny that a large part of the population still associates drone with destruction and unconsented surveillance. Those like me do our best to show the positive use cases of the technology, yet bad press can be hard to overcome.
As people who work in the drone industry, we will all need to put in consistent efforts to ensure that we can bring about a more positive image for our UAVs.
5. Privacy Flaws
What happens when someone intercepts a car or hijacks a plane?
Nothing good, we can all agree on at least that much.
Drones are susceptible to being hijacked, and quite easily at that. Recent findings have suggested that even drones made by popular manufacturers are not immune to hackers who know what they are doing.
If not controlled in time, it could bring about issues that could prove difficult to handle. The actual security issues that it could bring to the table may be quite worrisome.
Conclusion
If such issues continue to pile up, then they can cause a negative domino effect on the whole industry.
Needless to say, your business wouldn’t be immune to it. That is why we all need to come together to bring a more aligned approach to follow regulations, guidelines, and safety procedures
About The Author
Mark Sheehan started My Drone Authority to share his knowledge and help people get the most out of this amazing hobby and profession.