The FAA on
Wednesday canceled a UAV temporary flight restriction (TFR), that stretched
across 300 nautical miles of Arizona and New Mexico, in response to the
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol UAV that crashed the previous day. "AOPA is
pleased that the FAA has finally canceled the TFR, considering the fact that
there are no operations being conducted in it at this time," said Andy
Cebula, AOPA executive vice president of government affairs. "AOPA has
been opposed to using flight restrictions to control UAV operations, and it's a
shame that it took an accident to illustrate why these TFRs are a bad idea. In
fact, this accident illustrates why UAV operations should not be conducted until
these unmanned aircraft are certified to the same level of safety as manned
aircraft. Just think that if a pilot had been flying legally under the TFR and
the UAV hit the aircraft from behind and above—the pilot would have had no
chance to see and avoid the uncontrolled UAV." Just last month, AOPA
alerted Congress to the threat UAVs pose to GA pilots and voiced members'
opposition to restricting civilian access to airspace for UAV operations.