Pilots Say Go Slow on Commercial Drones After Ditching

By Alan Levin and Jeff Plungis

The ditching of a government surveillance drone off the California coast shows the U.S. must move cautiously on integrating unmanned aircraft into the skies, a pilots’ union leader said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection grounded its fleet of nine remaining drones used to monitor borders and ports after operators had to guide an unmanned aircraft into the Pacific Ocean after a mechanical failure Jan. 27.

The accident renewed debate over how swiftly the government should bring unmanned aircraft into the aviation system and how tight the safety standards should be. The Federal Aviation Administration is working on standards for civilian drones, which are now banned in U.S. airspace, and has approved six test sites.

“It creates a more complex problem than just pointing it out to sea,” Sean Cassidy, national safety coordinator for the Air Line Pilots Association, said in an interview.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-28/customs-drone-fleet-grounded-after-predator-goes-down.html