ON THE FLY

Several crashes this year of unmanned aerial vehicles have raised questions about their safety, as the drone aircraft continue to proliferate.

According to a USA Today story this week, a Customs and Border Protection Predator B drone, which is 36 feet long with a max weight of 10,000 pounds, crashed within several hundred feet of homes in Arizona on April 25; a prototype of a 2,000-pound tilt-rotor crashed during tests April 5 in Texas; and a 3-pound drone carrying cameras crashed while being demonstrated for the media by a Los Angeles County sheriff on June 16, a flight that took place without FAA permission.

Both the Air Line Pilots Association and AOPA have said safety protocols for UAVs are inadequate. "We are sharing airspace where we are assured that a certain level of safety is being met, and yet there is no level of safety for these UAVs," Heidi Williams, air traffic services director for AOPA, told USA Today

· FAA To Ease Restrictions On Warbird Flying

Warbird pilots got some good news from the FAA during EAA AirVenture last month. "The FAA has proposed removing the proficiency area requirements currently in place for warbirds," said EAA Warbirds of America (WOA) Executive Director Bill Fischer. "It will mean that a civilian pilot who flies a military or surplus aircraft can fly it anywhere that a civil aircraft can go."

Current FAA regulations restrict most warbird flights to 600 miles or less from their home bases. WOA has been involved in a "continuing dialog" with the FAA to try to ease those restrictions for qualified pilots, Fischer said. "The FAA continues to stress that warbirds in civilian operation are intended for exhibition and not for personal transport, but they have conceded that lifting the area restrictions will not affect the safety of the pilots or the public."