ATLANTA — They're cheap to buy, easy to fly and filling up Georgia skies so fast the federal government is scrambling to figure out how to keep you safe.
While consumer drone sales are soaring to all-time highs, Channel 2 investigative reporter Aaron Diamant is exposing the very real risks the unmanned aircraft can pose.
Analysts predict yearly consumer drone sales will soon hit 1 million.
Diamant spent the last several weeks talking to local drone operators, safety experts and airport directors about what concerns them most.
While they all agreed flying a consumer drone into another aircraft on purpose is nearly impossible, with so many drones out there, there's a growing risk of a catastrophic accident.
"They definitely are a game changer," said DeKalb Peachtree Airport interim manager Mario Evans.
Recently, the Federal Aviation Administration started keeping track of all drone incidents reported to it through air traffic control.
The most current records we could get from the agency shows Georgia ranked fourth in the nation with 10 pilot sightings just between April and October of last year.
Channel 2 Action News obtained an audio recording of an AirTran pilot radioing in a close call with a drone 3,000 feet over Fulton County while on approach to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport last July.
"I don't see any evidence that we've got people actually trying to hit aircraft with drones at this stage, but the propensity does exist," said air safety analyst John Nance.
Nance told Diamant he’s most concerned about accidental drone strikes, flown by people with little or no training in places they shouldn't be.
While Nance says a consumer drone would most likely just bounce off a big jet, or in the worst case damage one of the engines, an impact with a smaller plane could have serious consequences.
"A collision at 100 knots or at 120 knots with an object like that could come right through the window and kill the pilot,” said Nance.
Evans, who at DeKalb Peachtree Airport runs one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country, told Diamant the risks are real.
"If one of those are in one of our flight paths on arrival or departure and we do have an impact, then there is a very likely possibility of that aircraft going down," Evans said.
Last month, air traffic issued a notice to PDK pilots that warned them of three drone sightings on the same day.
“The hair goes up on the back of your neck when you have one of those close calls," Evans said.
The FAA is still developing a long list of new safety rules for amateur drone pilots: where, when and how to fly different kinds of drones and by whom.
Wannabe operators would also need to pass a test.
"You have to understand the avionics,” said local modeler Mike Beebe. “You have to understand the power systems. You have to understand the flight control systems.”
Beebe, who showed Diamant how to fly a simple drone in about five minutes, say education is key.
"The technologies are advancing very quickly," Beebe said.
Right now, Georgia Tech researches are working with the FAA to develop safety systems to warn operators who get too close to no-fly zones, and let air traffic control identify and communicate with drones.
“Not all the people are flying them responsibly," said David Price with the Georgia Tech Research Institute. "The public is part of the enforcement process."
It’s a process Price says is more important than ever in an era of “buy it and fly it.”
"The main thing right now is to get these folks under control," said Nance.
Right now, consumer drones must stay below 400 feet and weigh less than 55 pounds. Plus, the operator must maintain line of sight and give air traffic control a head's up if it's operating within five miles of an airport. However, those rules are, for the most part, simply self-policed.
So far, none of the FAA’s proposed rules specifically address small cameras often mounted to consumer drones, but they would prohibit drone operators from flying over anyone not directly involved in the operating the drone.
WSBTV
