We believe this is the most effective way to ensure that unsafe drone use does not have major consequences.
It will affect anyone who owns a drone which weighs more than 250 grams, reports the BBC. Though Congress could still legislate on the issue.
Potential drone operators will have to take a test to “prove that they understand United Kingdom safety, security and privacy regulations”, the government said in a press release.
There are no firm plans yet as to when and how the new legislation will be implemented in the UK. Nor are there concrete details of how the rules will be enforced. Police have not been able to trace the users of the drones.
The move follows a consultation, published at the end of previous year, that took views from members of the public, and which recommended addressing “safety, security and privacy challenges and concerns that drones present”.
There have been several stories of drone near misses in United Kingdom air space in recent years.
The decision came in the backdrop of several reports of passenger jets being involved in near-miss incidents with drones in the UK.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has said that it is considering an age limit for the test, which could mean that children will be banned from flying drones.
Aviation minister Lord Martin Callanan said, “Our measures prioritise protecting the public while maximising the full potential of drones”. Increasingly, drones are proving vital for inspecting transport infrastructure for fix or aiding police and fire services in search and rescue operations, even helping to save lives.
As part of the tighter regulations, the government plans to expand the use of geo-fencing, a programming technique that stops drones entering restricted zones such as prisons and airports.
It will also bring forward work to create an authoritative source of United Kingdom airspace data, which will facilitate the implementation of geo-fencing and build greater awareness of airspace restrictions amongst drone users.
Pilots’ union Balpa said the results of the study into what would happen in the event of a crash were “robust verification” for its warnings of possible catastrophe. “The key will be maintaining this balance in the next round of deliberation”, he added.
The Airport Operators Association welcomed the regulation but said enforcement would be vital for the rules to be effective, and called for mandatory geo-fencing to be introduced.
According to the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority’s Airprox Board there have been 22 incidents involving commercial airliners and what were likely drones during the first four months of this year.
Drones have been in the news a lot lately, and not always for the best reasons.