No-fly zones to address privacy, safety concerns on drones

A proposed legal notice suggests the creation of 'no-fly zones' for drones, which will then only be able to be flown in designated areas unless the user obtains written consent.

Matthew Vella

Plummeting drones falling in residential gardens, aircraft pilots facing RPAs at 3,000 feet in their flightpath, and even a drone crashing right in the middle of the Hibs-Birkirkara FA trophy final: the proliferation of lightweight remotely-piloted aircraft and their affordability have introduced a new actor in the skies, one that is worrying professional pilots and aviation authorities, but also concerned citizens.

One Tarxien resident told MaltaToday this week that one such drone fell into his back yard, when its operator knocked on his door asking for his machine. The person said that he was filming the Santa Lucija Hypogeum nearby.

The incident was redolent of similar concerns by a public getting accustomed to the reality of drones.

“Not only were we worried that someone can at will film private property without the owner’s consent, but the fact that it inadvertently crashed highlights the risks of flying unlicensed equipment. The drone crashed onto our sunshade: had anyone been out in the yard without that sunshade, we would have been seriously injured,” the resident, who spoke under confidentiality, told MaltaToday. The matter was reported to the authorities.

Amateur pilots can purchase drones as cheaply as €100 on some websites, such as the Blade Nano QX, or as much as €1,000 for camera drones like the DJI Phantom 2, which comes complete with a 14-megapixel camera and HD video capture. The drone even returns automatically to where it took off if you lose connection. 

But under a proposed legal notice, Transport Malta’s civil aviation authority intends creating ‘no-fly zones’ for drones, which will only be able to be flown in designated areas unless there is written consent for specialised usage.

The designated areas will be authorised only for sport and recreational activities, and drones will have to be flown within 400 feet above the surface. Operators who fail to observe the requirements risk a €1,000 fine.

However, operators who use drones for communication, construction, photography, observation or aerial advertisement will have to pay for these specialised operations.

Such operators will need a permit to carry out these activities in designated areas, together with the registration of their drone, accreditation for the operators, a site and risk assessment for the intended operations, insurance, and a medical certification issued for the pilot.

Any operator who fails to meet these requirements is liable to a €5,000 fine and the confiscation of his drone in the event of repeated breaches.

In a public consultation meeting held in March, drone hobbyists voiced concerns that the “designated areas” would pose additional bureaucracy, and that obtaining insurance would be next to impossible.

But the director-general for civil aviation, George Borg Marks, said the number of incidents involving RPAs highlighted the need for regulation: he cited one occasion where a drone had flown at 3,000 feet directly in the approach path of the airport runway.

Transport Malta has told MaltaToday that the draft proposal will soon be submitted to Cabinet.

“The Civil Aviation Directorate encourages all users of RPAs, whether amateur or professional, to join a local association or club, the reason being that such users can obtain advice, information and perhaps even instruction in flying from senior and more experienced RPA users. This is in the interest of safety to persons, property and other manned aircraft,” a TM spokesperson said.

The directorate will also encourage drone users to get appropriate insurance. And while it will not envisage any licensing, there will be some requirements for commercial-use RPAs. 

 

Privacy and safety concerns

For newspapers, the new rules will surely impact the way drone-journalism can be carried out: MaltaToday is one such newspaper which operates a drone for some of its news stories. But the rules are necessary in order to ensure the safety of ‘what’ is being filmed using drones: for example, under the proposed legal notice filming a protest will only be possible without flying over the people, and people flying the drone must be certified.

In the UK, the House of Lords’ Subcommittee on the EU Internal Market, Infrastructure, and Employment, recommended in a report that UK media regulators should start a public consultation on the use of RPAs, citing privacy concerns.

Drones normally carry video cameras, and that means that the privacy of private life and property can be interfered with and violated when drones capture images of people in their houses or gardens.

The European Data Protection Supervisor has also highlighted gaps in data protection laws that do not address the possible intrusions into privacy, or illegitimate use of drones that could be prohibited under criminal law, intellectual property, and other laws. The European Commission itself will be adopting standards and soft laws by 2016 designed at ensuring the regularisation of drone activity for industry, and the need for safety, ethical and privacy standards.

Operating drones: the rules

RPAs (remotely piloted aircraft) in flight must give way to manned aircraft 

RPAs cannot be operated outside designated areas

RPAs cannot be operated further than 150m from point of operation

Operators must have unaided visual contact with drone at all times

Cannot be flown higher than 400ft

Cannot be operated over, or within 150m of “confines of congested town”

Cannot be operated within 7.5km from aerodrome runway or boundary

Cannot be flown over open-air assembly of people without written permission