The suspected rogue drone incident caused dozens of flights to be cancelled or delayed. Photo / 123RF
If it looks like a duck, it could be a drone.
But a reported near-miss involving an Airbus A320 at Auckland was serious enough to delay or cancel 36 flights and spark a year-long investigation.
Reported unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) incidents in airspace have largely stabilised at 53 to 58 a year since 2022, according to Airways NZ data.
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) today said the April 2024 Auckland incident very likely involved a drone.
Responsible operators were “gutted” about rogue incidents, said Dr Isaac Henderson, chair of UAVNZ, a division of the Aviation Industry Association (AIANZ).
“I personally and also on behalf of UAVNZ have been advocating for a licensing system for about five years,” Henderson told the Herald.
He said such a system would have verifiable standards of training, competency, and assessment.
That would ensure pilots had the right skills, knowledge, and attitudes to conduct flights safely.
“We want to push UAVs into all forms of airspace. You can safely operate in all forms of airspace with a UAV.”
He said standards and better rules were needed, especially around training.
“We see people who are breaking the rules and they are getting away with it, or when the CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] does decide to take action, it’s quite often an educational response.”
Henderson said some commercial operators were spending thousands of dollars on ensuring staff were competent.
“Someone flew over the Auckland Harbour Bridge with a drone, that’s been a year or two ago, and, you know, that is just an unacceptably high level of risk.”
He said some drone operators were elusive, and even if they were caught for bad behaviour, prosecution or other sanctions could be difficult to advance.
“The burden of proof is quite high.”
Henderson said the public might be surprised to hear about some aviation rules.
“Lake Taupō is a designated aerodrome. All 640sq km is an aerodrome.
“And so you can’t fly within 4km of it with a drone, unless you’ve got permission from the aerodrome operator and you have the necessary qualifications or you’re using your Part 102 certificate,” he added.
“So you can understand how people might just be accidentally breaking the rules.”
A Part 102 certificate is required for actions including operating unshielded at night, flight over property with prior notification, or with an aircraft heavier than 25kg.
Henderson said the aircraft or object in the Air New Zealand Airbus incident last April in Auckland had not been conclusively identified.
The duck-sized object reported would have been hard for pilots to identify, Henderson said.
The most common drones of that size would be models such as DJI Mavics, quadcopters often used for aerial photography.
“People might buy one personally for photography and videography and things like that, but professionally they can be used for a lot of things like mapping out paddocks for agricultural work, surveying work, [or] multi-spectral imaging.”
If a drone even of that fairly small size were to collide with an A320, what might the consequences be?
“There have been some [incidents] internationally where drones have hit manned aircraft, and a lot of it depends on the mass of the drone, it depends on the type of the manned aircraft and how fast it’s going,” Henderson said.
“Effectively, it’s a bit like having a gamble. The most likely situation with a drone that size and Airbus is that you have a very expensive repair job.
“But if it hits the wrong part of the aircraft, it it gets sucked into the engine, well now. If you get an engine fire, that could put people’s lives at risk.
“If it hits the windshield, well, that’s going to be quite bad.
“If you look at photos of bird strikes where the bird has broken the cockpit window and it’s gone inside the cockpit ... it can be quite consequential and again put people’s lives at risk.
“So it’s a bit like Russian roulette.”
In January, the FBI began an investigation after an allegedly unauthorised drone collided with an aircraft battling the Los Angeles fires.
The civilian drone caused wing damage to one of the CL-415 “Super Scooper” aircraft’s wings, ABC reported.
“It’s not a risk that’s worth taking,” Henderson said of drone collisions.
Could a drone violating airspace in New Zealand be shot down?
“It depends on the context, because you obviously have civilian and military reasons, but in civilian airspace, you wouldn’t,” Henderson said.
“There are legitimate reasons that drones may be operating in the vicinity of airports and above 400ft (121.9m),” he added.
“This is clearly not one of those, but ... we don’t want to tar all drone operators with the same brush.
“One of our biggest issues as an industry is low public acceptance, and we’re trying to improve that by showing people, look, you can inspect power lines, you can spray fertiliser on paddocks, you can do all these really useful things with drones,” Henderson said.
Incidents such as that involving the Air New Zealand A320 were upsetting for legitimate UAV operators, he said.
“We are gutted, and we would like to see greater enforcement [for] those deliberately breaking the rules, and we’d like to see greater educational resources and greater standards applied.”
He said anybody who owns or operates a drone should have a license or a qualification.
AIANZ was also calling for a registration system.
AIANZ chief executive Simon Wallace said a licensing system for drones could ensure standards for commercial and recreational drones were met.
“We’ve been advocating to the CAA and to the Ministry of Transport for a licensing system for drones for some time now.”
He added: “We’ve got to have those discussions, but they are discussions that the drone industry is up for.”
Wallace said AIANZ had a code of conduct for members around using drones.
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission said today: “Until adequate controls are placed on the use of drones, other aircraft, including passenger-carrying aircraft, continue to be at risk of disruption and collision.”
John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation and courts. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.