As a fixed wing pilot for almost 30 years it seems to me that the real danger is with hot air balloons and their inability to safely maneuver and control their direction within the airspace and not the operation of ‘drones’ or UAV’s.
I realize that my opinion is probably not going to be popular but it’s just my opinion.
Drones are incredibly difficult to see and last I checked FAA was proposing right of way and the burden of detect and avoid (and blame, if collision) on the balloonist. Basically anyone without adsb. And fixed wing pilots love to forget the entire forms of aviation exist outside part 91.
I’m a paramotor pilot and my entire flights are under 400 AGL around populated areas, and this also affects me.
I think it’s pretty fucked up for drones to have right of way over any manned flight.
I think there are ways to bring forward innovation with drones without this strange proposal that essentially shifts liability away from large corporations.
Some old info on this: https://usppa.org/faa/bvlos/
So, again, it’s my opinion that balloons are the real danger, not UAV’s.
Claiming that “balloons are a risk, not UAVs” is almost so bizarre that I mentally flag your posts as trolling.
Giving UAVs the right of way is bogus and will cost many human lives in General Aviation. There are already countless accidents reported with UAVs nearly taking down planes. They are impossible to see.
Edit: Your comment almost sounds like out of some bad communication workbook for lobbyists from the 70s - “pedestrians are the real danger on the street, cars are safe. Jay walking needs to be punished severely” ; “Public transportation is a communist idea threatening the very ideals of our society - every person should instead buy his OWN car”. Man, Balloons are the neatest and most harmless most easy to avoid objects in the sky. Don’t try to make them look bad. Everyone loves em.
Edited: “It was never…” to “I never…” Didn’t realize that @looping__lui was referring to a different comment. And, I’m not trolling e_e.
Who goes after balloons with “balloons are a risk, not UAVs”!?
In General Aviation thats like kicking puppies. And this direct quote to me very much sounded like “UAVs are not a risk”.
If I had to place my bets, I think that drone-operated aviation, delivery, etc. will become a trillion dollar market.
If that's the case, then obviously it takes precedence.
Hot air balloons or even small personal aircraft are a niche that serve a mostly wealthy subset of the population. Drone delivery and transportation will likely grow to serve all of us and kick off a multitude of further technological and business innovations. Because of this, drones should get regulatory approval and preference due to the huge potential benefits for society.
Not sure I met many “wealthy” balloon pilots, but glad you make “the trillion dollar industry of drones” a “fight for the common man”
For remote areas, military resupply and such, sure, drone will works just fine. But that is hardly a trillion dollar market, regardless how hard all those pitch decks try to make it one.
It's been years since fedex/ups/usps has done anything but quickly drop packages at my front door and get back in their truck asap
Since both aircraft have a strong incentive to avoid collision, there are fairly few mid-air collisions.
Now they want to give drones the right of way with no skin in the game. They can just go from waypoint to waypoint, never looking for anything, and if they hit something, they won't die, and they won't even get sued. If they're feeling particularly callous, they could even sue the other pilot's estate for the cost of their crashed drone.
I was shocked when a couple months ago I flew by a paraglider at the edge of my local D airspace, 1000' above the D and 1000' under the B shelf. You guys get crazy but it looks fun