New Danger for Firefighting Pilots: Drones

A rogue UAV briefly shuts down the fight against LA's Palisades Fire

Aerial firefighting is already one of the most dangerous kinds of aviation there is. Pilots must maneuver heavy, sluggish planes over rough terrain at low altitude, often amid severe turbulence and poor visibility. Now aerial firefighters battling the Los Angeles wildfires are facing an additional danger: illegal drones. On Thursday a “Super Scooper” plane fighting the Palisade fire collided with a drone that tore a hole in its wing, forcing it to land and taking a powerful weapon out of the fight when it was urgently needed.

In the aftermath the FAA promised severe punishment for anyone caught flying drones in a way that interferes with firefighting, with penalties of up to 12 months in prison and $75,000 in fines. But the uncomfortable reality is that there is little that authorities can do to prevent illegal drone flights, as I explain in a new story for New York magazine.

When I reached out to them for the story, the FBI’s Los Angeles office confirmed to me that it had dispatched its anti-drone unit, the Counter Unmanned Aircraft System Task Force. But even with the latest technology, the interdiction of rogue drones is no easy task. Drones are small, difficult to spot, and can appear and disappear quickly. Even if they’re transmitting a Remote ID signal, observers on the ground require equipment to detect it, and this has a limited range. As I recently reported, officials were flummoxed by mass drone sightings in New Jersey recently and proved unable to identify a single one.

As I write in the article, given the challenge of actively enforcing the rules, the most effective way to minimize the danger of aircraft-drone collision may simply be to keep drone operators cognizant of the rules and hope that they use good sense. Judging by their recent behavior, there’s a lot of progress to be made on that front.