Playing the Drone Card

We have been hearing a lot about drones coming to US skies. There was the story a few months back that showed the cool looking drone being transported on the back of a truck. We have the story about a near miss air collision in the skies above Denver and this episode possibly was caused by a drone. This week we had the crash of a drone in Maryland. There have been many other stories.
This story

USA Today: Drones to be Approved

makes a good case for drones being a smart business decision. Drones can replace manned choppers and are even less expensive than a new squad car.
This story states that Congress has passed legislation that
“calls on the FAA to establish rules for smaller drones weighing up to 55 pounds within 27 months. The schedule for all drones is Sept. 30, 2015.”
So the conclusion is that the market for drone craft is huge.
This story

The Telegraph: Skies Full of Drones

states that over 50 non-military organizations have requested permission from the FAA to use drones for surveillance in the United States. Federal agencies such as the FBI and DHS will be using drones, but municipal police agencies like Miami, Seattle and Little Rock have already been approved to use them.
This article

Wall Street Journal

Points out that many pilots have concerns about thousands of unmanned craft being added to skies full of passenger planes.
The meter wide DraganFlyer X6 and the hand launched fixed-winged Falcon-UAV do not pose much of a threat to commercial aircraft. Whatever is alleged to have almost collided with a jet in the skies over Denver in May is another story.

HuffPost: Denver Near Miss

Are we seeing the realistic and quite down-to-earth fulfillment of yet another card:



Will you really never get it even when the “saucers” are flying overhead?