Canadian UAV Regulations: More Learning, Less Fear.
/New recreational unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) rules were announced before the weekend by Canadian Transportation Minister Marc Garneau. Recreational users face hefty fines if they do not abide by certain rules, namely not flying within nine kilometers of an active airstrip. I’ve been asked by quite a few people about the new restrictions since they were released and my response has been that they have always been ‘the rules’ – however previously they had existed as ‘guidelines’ and no penalties could be handed down for breaking them. These ‘guidelines’ have always been front and center in every operation we carry out – also I’m not aware of any incidents where someone needed to be fined for negligent drone use but laws did not exist to penalize them.
I also take issue with the Transportation Minister’s statement from CBC.ca “I have read almost on a daily basis reports from pilots coming into airports, on the flight path, and reporting seeing a drone off the wing.” This is absolutely false. If there were this many UAV’s being spotted at Canadian airports, why have we not seen more investigations regarding them? Further, there have been zero reported cases of a UAV hitting an airplane – both in Canada and the United States. This statement breeds unnecessary fear which leads to hastily prepared, ill-thought regulations. Based upon this statement alone, I’m hesitant to discover further rules being handed down in June.
We need less fear from our politicians and more education. Current efforts to bring a minimum of learning to future UAV pilots before their first operation are crucial to tackling the problem. What kind of minimum education do you think pilots should have before their first flight?
