Drones need to be encouraged, and people protected

WHILE TESTING a drone to detect sharks off a beach in New South Wales last year, Australian lifeguards spotted two young men struggling to swim in the violent surf. The drone was dispatched to drop an inflatable pod, which the men used to reach the shore safely. Such civilian drones are saviours that have helped rescue mountain-climbers and people trapped by natural disasters. They carry emergency medical supplies and organs for transplant. Apart from saving souls, civilian drones are becoming a good business. Goldman Sachs, a bank, reckons that the market will be worth $100bn by 2020 in areas such as surveying, security and delivery.

The trouble is that drones also endanger life and cause disruption, as they did on January 22nd when Newark airport near New York closed briefly after a drone was seen nearby. Drone sightings at Gatwick airport near London forced it to shut for 36 hours just before Christmas. Three weeks later a drone closed Heathrow, the world’s third-busiest airport, for an hour. These were hardly the first such incidents. Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport suspended flights in 2017 after spotting a drone. Pilots frequently report near-misses. Because they contain metal parts and potentially explosive lithium-ion batteries, drones can badly damage an aircraft in a collision. They are also used to smuggle contraband across borders and into prisons. In Yemen Houthi rebels recently used a drone to attack the VIP podium of a military parade-ground, reportedly killing six soldiers.