Brussels, 22/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - Following the recent incidents in Warsaw on Tuesday 21 July and in London on Wednesday 22 July, where civilian drones posed a direct threat to the safety of airline flights, a possible toughening up of draft legislation may be introduced on these drones, as well as an expansion in the scope of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
Aviation safety appears to be under increasing threat from civilian drones. Yesterday in Warsaw, a drone came closer than 100 m from a Lufthansa aircraft containing around 100 passengers, whilst the pilot was preparing to land his aircraft. Today, Heathrow airport indicated that an impact between a drone and an Airbus A320 had just been narrowly avoided. At the same airport last December, a long-haul aircraft almost hit a drone in similar circumstances.
All these events are grounds for justifying an appeal for toughening up European legislation in this domain, explained a source at the European institutions. Over the past few months, the EU has been examining the possibility of introducing a legal framework governing the overseeing of drones, so that all categories of drones fall within the jurisdiction of EASA and not just drones that weigh more than 150 kg, which is currently the case.
The EU is also seeking to impose European standards on drone production in an effort to prevent drones flying over areas that could pose a threat to aviation safety and to enable identification by the respective police forces.
Currently, it is very difficult to identify the owner of the drone and it is for this reason that the national authorities in the member states are now more in favour of imposing compulsory registration when purchasing a drone, on the same lines as car registration.
Nonetheless, European Commission sources indicated that “all these measures will take time so that they are implemented within the framework of an action plan and the development of industry production standards”, which sometimes requires considerable time. In the meantime, the European Commission and the European Aviation Safety Agency will organise exchanges on best practices between member states, explained one source close to the dossier.
Last week, the European Parliament debated an own initiative report on the safety of drones, presented by Jacqueline Foster (ECR, United Kingdom) at the Transport and Tourism Committee (see EUROPE 11362), which is expected to be presented during the plenary section in October. The Commission intends to submit a legislative proposal on the subject towards the end of the year. (Pascal Hansens)