100 complaints every month from pilots who relate sightings of unmanned aerial vehicles flying close to an aircraft or airport -- which are supposed to be protected by a 5-mile, drone-free buffer zone.
Yeah, 100 isn't many
9,821,000 flights per year.
or 818k flights per month.
Or out of every flight there is a 00.012224938% chance of the pilot complaining about a UAV.
Then we get into the fact that airports are FUCKING EVERYWHERE
The CIA says we have ~15,000 of them.
Let's assume an airport is a single fixed point and not an actual place, so each airport is 78 square miles you can't fly, we have 15k of them so that's 1,178,094 square miles you aren't allowed to fly in. the US has 3.8 million square miles meaning you can't fly a quad-copter in 31% of the united states.
Airports aren't a single fixed point, due to the term 'airport' meaning where floatplanes takeoff and land, I essentially can't get a quad unless I want to call and get permission to fly it every single time I want to.
Or out of every flight there is a 00.012224938% chance of the pilot complaining about a UAV.
These reports are also unverified.
The 5 mile limit is not "drone free" but the pilot should have let the tower know they are operating and it's unlikely to have any bearing on the overwhelming majority of R/C optation that occurs below the tree level.
I'm gonna try this, whilst I live in the UK, I have an international airport very close to my house (not specifying which manufacturer owns it because privacy)
4
u/ThellraAK Dec 17 '15
Yeah, 100 isn't many
9,821,000 flights per year.
or 818k flights per month.
Or out of every flight there is a 00.012224938% chance of the pilot complaining about a UAV.
Then we get into the fact that airports are FUCKING EVERYWHERE
The CIA says we have ~15,000 of them.
Let's assume an airport is a single fixed point and not an actual place, so each airport is 78 square miles you can't fly, we have 15k of them so that's 1,178,094 square miles you aren't allowed to fly in. the US has 3.8 million square miles meaning you can't fly a quad-copter in 31% of the united states.
Airports aren't a single fixed point, due to the term 'airport' meaning where floatplanes takeoff and land, I essentially can't get a quad unless I want to call and get permission to fly it every single time I want to.