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United States Pilots Association |
On April 25, 2006, an unmanned Predator Drone aircraft crashed some 30 miles northwest of Nogales, Arizona. To see the NTSB report, go to April 25 on the NTSB website. If this was not our money drilling a smoking hole in the ground, it would almost be funny. However; as Paul Harvey would say, here is the rest of the story.
These aircraft, which are bigger than a Cessna 182, are flying around the border areas in AZ, NM, and possibly TX. They are flying where you and I fly, in the same airspace. After a conversation with a representative of the New Mexico Pilots Association, I have been told that supposedly these UAVs fly on an instrument flight plan, and there are supposed to be notams out when they are operating. Unfortunately the NMPA representative has determined that rarely are notams issued. And even worse, flight service and center have no knowledge of these activities going on. A contact in the FAA told me these aircraft are supposed to be lit at night with recognition lights, and are required to carry registration numbers (the aircraft in question was not lit and carried no numbers). When the actual emergency was detected (a simple computer glitch on the ground), nobody notified the FAA of a pilotless aircraft going down.
My concern is, what provisions have been made to avoid the inevitable collision between the UAV and a VFR aircraft, legally flying without a flight plan, and not talking to Center? This is not an issue of patriotism. The drone was carrying a camera, obviously looking for illegal border crossings. The camera operator was a Border Patrol Officer (he of the dreaded Homeland Security Agency).
Read the NTSB report, which upon conclusion states this was an incident. The identifier is CH106MA121. After laughing at the absurdity of the cause of this "incident," imagine if this UAV, out of control, entered your airspace, and what your reaction would be.
Steve Uslan, President
United States Pilots Association