Drones: Risks and Restrictions
Drones (unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs) perform many useful tasks, including search-and-rescue support, wildlife tracking, sheep herding, security surveillance… with more uses identified every day. They also provide hours of recreational entertainment for the hobbyist. On the dark side, drones have created many new risks to air traffic and elsewhere, so government regulators have stepped in with serious penalties for violating the rules.
Drones are Everywhere

Google drones are making deliveries in Virginia and in some towns in Australia. Amazon delivery drones are running trials in the UK. Every cargo service is planning to provide the service as are many start-ups. Children play with drones. New Zealand sheep farmers herd sheep with drones. Drones are everywhere.
Drones = Danger
Drones fly into power lines. They interfere with forest fire fighting. Sometimes it’s lack of training, sometimes ill-intent and sometimes it’s quality of transmitted data, limited power supplies, and disruptions in communication between a drone and its operator.
“We expect to see more drone intrusions in and around our airports,” says Colin, a security specialist in Jacksonville, Florida. “It’s becoming a problem for larger, high-traffic airports in North America and Europe. Airport administrators worry about bird strikes, but recent circumstances are forcing them to address the drone problem, which is getting worse. A drone—even a small one operated by a child—could cause serious damage to an aircraft, and pilots are demanding better protection. At this point I’m not sure that the current technology can guarantee a high level of security.”
Canadian Rules
Recently governments have placed more stringent restrictions on drones and their operators. Transport Canada restricts:
- Flights beyond the operator’s line of sight
- Flights carrying payloads that can be dropped
- Flights above ceilings of 122 metres (or 400 feet)
- Night flights
- Flights through or in clouds
- Research or commercial flights carried out by untrained operators, and operators who do not carry liability insurance
- Flights within 5.6 kilometres of an airport that lack proper permission and documentation
- Flights within 30 metres of bystanders
- Flights near forest fires, outdoor concerts, and parades
All operators require a certificate and drones need to be registered and marked. Penalties include jail time and fines. In Canada, fines for individuals and organizations are up to $1,000 and $5,000 for each violation. Creating circumstances involving risk to aircraft and people can triple the fines.
Looking Ahead
The skies will get more crowded as drone use comes into its own and drones will be used by most organizations in the future. It’s time to add drones to the topics in your tech strategy now.
This article was published in the
November 2019
edition of The TMC Advisor
- ISSN 2369-663X Volume:6 Issue:3
©2019 TMC Consulting