Are drones flight of fancy or modern-day menace in the skies?
In online forums, most drone complaints stem from privacy concerns about the growing popularity of drone hobbyists, the people who fly drones for fun. But for many people beneath the drones, it’s anything but fun.
As the rain-soaked first responders worked frantically on Mountain Road in Clonmel last Friday night where a young brother and sister and their two best friends lay amidst the wreckage of their car, somebody else bowed to their less-than-noble instincts and decided to fly a drone right over the harrowing scene.
The footage they took was then shared on social media and by a news website, the invasion of privacy adding to the already incomprehensible pain of the families of Luke McSweeney, 24, and Grace McSweeney, 18, Nicole Murphy, 18, and Zoey Coffey, 18.
Online and within the locality, people were outraged at the insensitivity of the drone pilot, with many calling for our laws on filming accidents to be changed to protect victims and their families.
At a media briefing the next day, Superintendent Kieran Ruane of Clonmel Garda Station said it was “very difficult” for the first responders to work knowing there was a drone overhead, not to mention “disrespectful to the families of the deceased.”
The Irish Aviation Authority has begun its own investigation into the incident. In a statement to the Irish Examiner, a spokesperson said the drone use over the crash scene was “in direct contravention of the drone regulations” and they are in contact with An Garda Síochána on the matter.
“Remote pilots and drone operators are required, by European regulation, to avoid areas where an emergency response effort is ongoing,” they said. “This is safety critical as it could hinder possible aerial support and to protect the privacy rights of persons involved in the emergency event,” they added.
In online forums, most drone complaints stem from privacy concerns about the growing popularity of drone hobbyists, the people who fly drones for fun. But for many people beneath the drones, it’s anything but fun — something this reporter has first-hand experience of.
Hunkered down weeding in the front garden one afternoon, a swarm of bees descended on me so fast I instinctively ducked. Except, when I leapt to my feet, there were no bees. Instead, buzzing loudly about 20ft above me, like a large black hornet, was a drone. We eyeballed each other for a few seconds, me and my airborne intruder and then it began a leisurely exploration of the rest of our property. There was no sign of whoever was operating it.
Three weeks later, after 10pm, the drone reappeared, directly above the back door. This time we spotted a young man down the road who seemed to be operating it. We approached him to find out why he was flying his drone over our home, whether he was registered with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), and asked him to stop. Did we get responsible, reasonable answers? We did not. We got a middle finger. And a few salty names. We called the Gardaí who arranged to come out the following day. At 8am the next morning, however, as we were climbing into the car for school, we heard above us the by now familiar buzzing of the drone directly overhead. No sign of the drone pilot this time.
A few days later, another drone appeared, again no operator in sight, whirring around above the house and garden. We find out later this one was operated by an auctioneer for commercial reasons. He, too, was defensive and unapologetic when asked why he hadn’t either notified residents or been visible on the road while operating his drone, as per the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) rules. Recreational drone pilots should also be visible, must avoid flying over private property, and cannot fly the drone out of their line of sight. At no time is it permissible to fly a drone at night.
“Don’t approach him next time,” a Garda advised us on the hobbyist, with accurate foresight. “Just call the station and report a man behaving suspiciously.” The first part of that advice is easy — there’s no one to approach because our drone pilot now operates while hiding. The second part is harder — how do you report someone behaving suspiciously when there’s no one visible? “Shoot it down,” said a friend, “fight fire with fire.”
Breaking the law aside, what recourse do we have when it comes to unwanted drone incursions? In our case, we were “absolutely right” to call the Gardaí and they should be everyone’s first port of call, according to the IAA’s UAS Division Manager Enda Walsh. “In many ways, filming with a drone is no different to someone standing at the end of your garden and filming with their mobile phone. It’s breaching your privacy in terms of data protection,” he says.
The IAA has recently extended greater powers to Gardaí in relation to drones — importantly, they can now detain drones or direct drone pilots to stop if they think there is going to be a breach of the IAA drone regulations or it’s going to be used in a crime.
“It’s made it easier for the Gardaí as well to interact with us in terms of handing over cases or evidence. It allows for greater co-operation, a good example would be the cases currently going through the courts for drone operators at Dublin airport,” says Walsh.
Privacy complaints can also be raised with the IAA directly or the Data Protection Commission as any recordings made by a drone fall under Data Protection law.
The IAA currently has 7,154 operators registered and over 16,000 trained pilots. Most of the time they’re one and the same. Could the real number of drone users be higher? Walsh acts on the assumption that “it probably is".
“We try to widen that net and every year do a promotional campaign to make people aware of these requirements,” he adds.
Drones, or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), fall into three separate categories. Drones being used commercially, such as surveying a construction site; delivering coffee or prescription drugs fall into the ‘Specific’ and ‘Certified’ categories which require authorisation from the IAA, a lot of training, certifications, and risk assessments.
Drones used for fun are in the ‘Open’ category, which has three sub-categories — A1, A2, and A3. If you got a drone for Christmas and it weighs under 250g, it’s in the A1 category and you don’t need to register it with the IAA. But if it has a camera, which most drones do, you must register it.
“With the smallest drone, you can literally fly it up to someone’s face, and that to me is a problem,” says Chair of the Irish Professional Drone Pilots Association, Fergal McCarthy. “I can come within inches of your face and not be breaking any regulations, without your permission,” he adds.
The operators of such tiny drones are also exempt from any online training. EASA defines them as “no training needed” and advises owners to “read the user’s manual” instead.
McCarthy believes this will create more trouble down the line. “That to me is going to cause a lot of problems because you will have people rocking up at Dublin Airport and saying, ‘I didn’t know, I haven’t done any training to tell me that I can’t fly here,’” he says. “They’re giving them an ‘out’.
“I do think it’s going to be a big issue with people having zero training and being able to fly anywhere and say, ‘I didn’t know’. You’re essentially making it unregulated, all they have to do is register their name with the IAA and that’s it,” he adds.
The IAA, however, regards such tiny drones as “very, very low-risk” which is why they don’t recommend online training for them. “The lowest level you’re talking is 150g drones, very small drones, such as the DGI mini 3 for example. They’re very light drones. Anything above that you’re required to do the basic training of online videos followed by an exam online,” says Enda Walsh.
But if drone operators refuse to tell us whether they’re registered or not, there is currently no way of finding out without physical access to the drones. It’s a bugbear of McCarthy’s but one Walsh says will be addressed with the requirement from next January for drones to have a remote ID, a sort of digital licence plate number for drones which it’s hoped will go some way towards addressing privacy concerns. It will broadcast the operator’s ID number through an app.
“When that comes into effect you’ll be able to hold up your phone similar to Flightradar and you should be able to see their registration number and the location of the drone in real-time,” says Walsh. The Gardaí can also refer the ID to the IAA to find out the drone pilot’s name and address if there are any breaches of regulations suspected.
There’s also the issue of trespass — is a drone zooming around your garden committing a crime? It’s a grey area that Associate Professor of Law at University of Limerick Dr Kathryn O’Sullivan has been warning about since 2016.
Under civil laws dating back to 1978, we own the lower altitude airspace over our homes “as far as is necessary for your ordinary use and enjoyment of the land.” There is no exact aerial limit figure as to how high that “ordinary use” goes and Dr O’Sullivan believes it should now be clarified with a specific height, as it is in certain states of the US.
Her research indicates that most of the conflicts and online concern centres around leisure drone operators, exacerbated by the lack of legal clarity on ownership of lower altitude airspace. “Drones aren’t going to go away. It does have to be addressed,” she says.
Apart from the immensely upsetting privacy intrusion in Clonmel last week, that drone posed a serious safety threat to the Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 117 also hovering overhead as part of the major incident response. It’s the second such drone incident involving Coast Guard helicopters in less than a week. On Saturday, August 19, the Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 118 had to stand down from a missing person search in Sligo after several drones were spotted. The incident was condemned by the emergency services and led to the Coast Guard issuing an appeal to drone pilots not to hinder or delay a search and rescue operation.
The same week, Skellig Michael reported being plagued by drones despite drones being prohibited at all OPW Heritage sites. The Air Accident Investigation Unit also told the it is currently investigating two incidents involving drones in 2022 and 2023, the first since 2017.
This autumn the Department of Transport will publish a consultation document on their website inviting feedback on drones from members of the public and all interested parties.
It will be a golden opportunity for everyone — including bereaved families — to have a say on drones.
A leisure drone operator/pilot must:
- Register with the IAA if it has a camera ·
- Be visible and approachable to the general public ·
- Keep the drone in their line of sight, within 500m ·
- Keep the drone at a safe distance from people and not flown over assemblies of people ·
- Avoid residential and archaeological areas
- Fly no higher than 120m from ground level
- Avoid areas where the Emergency Services are working
- Must not fly at night
Further information is available at Iaa.ie, Easa.europa.eu, Datacommission.ie, Dronerules.eu, and Gov.ie/transport
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