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Niall Carson/PA

Drones will face new rules to cut risks

“Drones have a place in modern society but they must be regulated,” says Fine Gael MEP.

DRONES THAT WEIGH above 250 grammes will need to be registered, under proposed new legislation from the European Parliament.

The move comes after several recent incidents involving drones and commercial aircraft, which included a near miss for an Aer Lingus flight in Paris and a mid-air collision near Heathrow in London.

The updated safety rules will bring all unmanned aircraft, or drones, within the EU civil aviation framework, and specify that all drones weighing above 250 grammes will require registration with a national authority.

In a statement, the EU’s Committee for Transport and Tourism called the move an attempt to “provide a uniform level of safety across the EU”.

Deirdre Clune, a member of the Transport Committee and Fine Gael MEP for Ireland South, welcomed the move.

She said: “Drones have a place in modern society but they must be regulated for the safety of the flying public and in particular airline passengers. We must ensure that passenger safety is a clear priority.”

She added that “falling technology costs” mean that these drones can be bought for “under €50″.

In Ireland’s case, the responsibility for the registration of drones falls under the jurisdiction of the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).

Last year, the IAA introduced measures requiring drones weighing one kilogramme or more to be registered with ASSET, an online terrain mapping system, as well as registering the drone, itself, and the owner’s location details.

At the time, the IAA indicated that this policy on drones will be updated to reflect updated EU legislation, and will incorporate any changes.

With these new EU proposals, the requirement for registration on drones over 250 grammes will likely come into effect within the next two years.

Further information about existing rules and guidelines can be found on the IAA website.

Read: Turns out flying a drone professionally is more complex than you think…

Read: Own a drone or buying one for Christmas? You have to register it from today

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17 Comments
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    Mute Vocal Outrage
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    Nov 14th 2016, 5:02 PM

    Subsequent investigations showed that the ‘drone’ strike upon the BA plane in London was actually a plastic bag brushing off the fuselage beneath the cockpit and being sucked into an engine on final approach.

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    Mute Tony Canning
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    Nov 14th 2016, 8:23 PM

    A plastic bag weighing grammes. If it was 250 of them it could have been very nasty. There are a lot of things about drones beyond possible aircraft strikes. There are genuine privacy issues and WiFi sniffing issues too (among other things)

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    Mute Stephen McManus
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    Nov 14th 2016, 4:44 PM

    Drone regulation by the back door…. birds are far more dangerous to planes.

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    Mute Tweety McTweeter
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    Nov 14th 2016, 5:27 PM

    @Stephen McManus: yea, but they can’t regulate birds

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    Mute Thomas Quinn
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    Nov 14th 2016, 5:50 PM

    Until you start a small explosive device to one

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    Mute Stephen McManus
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    Nov 14th 2016, 5:58 PM

    @Thomas Quinn: true, but do you expect regulation to stop people from doing that?

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    Mute Stephen McManus
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    Nov 14th 2016, 6:03 PM

    @Tweety McTweeter: true, but people likely to register their drones are the least likely to mess with planes and the regulators know that. Plane safety is not the issue they are trying to address, just the excuse.

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    Mute Laurence Meyler
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    Nov 14th 2016, 5:59 PM

    You cannot regulate pervasive tech that costs a couple of hundred quid, is dropping fast in price and can be bought anywhere. And forget about it when it becomes a teenager hit. It will be like trying to regulate fireworks at Halloween but this will be all year round…

    IAA are typical checkbox ticking civil servants. Checking the box is what matters to them, not practicality of execution.

    The IAA had a stand at the recent Drone conf in RDS. They were telling everyone you absolutely must follow the civil law while they were located right across from a stand selling Android TV with the ability to broadcast pirated Sky TV, sport channels, movies etc. Could not make it up…

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    Mute Laurence Meyler
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    Nov 14th 2016, 11:58 PM

    The only practical way to police drones is with fully autonomous drones. And that tech is 10 – 20 years away.

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    Mute Cillian O'Gara
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    Nov 15th 2016, 1:57 AM

    @Laurence Meyler: I don’t know about your personal experience but after stiffer punishments were made for setting off fireworks, the number of them fall dramatically in my estate. Attempts at regulation are not inherently fruitless.

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    Mute Laurence Meyler
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    Nov 15th 2016, 9:32 AM

    @Cillian O’Gara: There was a lull a few years back but things appear to be back to norm now. Stiffer punishments work only if enforced but even then, they are seen as disproportionate to the less wealthy and so not a popular choice in Ireland.

    And who is going to fine teenagers? There are stiff penalties for speeding but most folk who like to go fast don’t give them a second thought. Just go on to a motorway in Ireland any day. This is because enforcement even for speeding is light. What hope does drone policing have?

    The IAA have experience of managing closed spaces around airports and restricted flight paths over Ireland which are rarely infringed on. They have no experience, ability or capacity to manage an open space free for all, that is the drone world.

    Who is going to police this – the Gardai? We need to get real here.

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    Mute David Dickenson
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    Nov 14th 2016, 4:22 PM

    Turn people into drone owning drones.

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    Mute Dec Murray
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    Nov 14th 2016, 7:53 PM

    ‘Mid air collision’ ???
    if you are going to write a piece at least get the facts you are reporting on right. Basic journalism rule book page 1…

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    Mute Don Kearns
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    Nov 14th 2016, 10:02 PM

    It’s like requiring licences for gun ownership. The people likely to have bad intent will not register.
    So the law is stupid.

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    Mute Nydon
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    Nov 14th 2016, 8:05 PM

    Is that 250g with or without motors running?

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    Mute Cillian O'Gara
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    Nov 15th 2016, 2:01 AM

    The argument that any attempt at regulation is doomed to failure so there’s no point in bothering is an incredibly lazy one, and patently untrue
    “No point trying to regulate the banks lads. The bad ones will just ignore them and get away with it, so why bother even trying to enforce regulations?”

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Nov 15th 2016, 7:18 AM

    Licensing them ,is it a good idea or a good revenue source ,either way it will happen but I don’t think it will stop illegal one,s as they will be then [illegal is a sick bird ]

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