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Callenders Aviation Law Expert: ‘Serious drone incident not if, but when’, urges industry regulations
Oct 2, 2015 - 11:35:55 AM

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The Ups and Downs of Drones – Llewellyn Boyer-Cartwright, centre, partner at Callenders, is pictured with serious investors and operators of commercial unmanned aerial vehicles, Lance Knowles, left, and George Mosko Jr., of Sky High Media. Boyer-Cartwright says the need for regulations to keep airspace, especially around airports, safe from the explosion of drones darting through the skies is essential in light of the growing number of near-collisions and the prediction that another million drones will be sold this holiday season.

Nassau, Bahamas - With industry analysts predicting sales of up to one million drones for Christmas, a top aviation lawyer today said drone regulations can’t come soon enough.

“I do not want to sound an alarm but am eager to call attention to what is a very real and growing threat to aviation safety,” said Llewellyn Boyer-Cartwright, partner at Callenders & Co.

The sought-after expert in international aviation matters said it is not a matter of if, but when a serious incident will occur as a result of drone activity.

“It is imperative for The Bahamas to move sensibly, but without delay, in establishing regulations to guide the industry,” he said.

The former commercial pilot’s comments came following news of the huge jump in predicted holiday sales and reports of several seriously close calls between unmanned aerial vehicles and commercial aircraft.

 “The number of incidents with pilots citing close calls with drones has increased so dramatically that the very safety of passengers is at risk,” said Boyer-Cartwright. “In 2014, the FAA reported 238 incidents for the year. This year, more than 650 had been reported by early last month.” And just in the past few weeks, he said, there have been several extremely close calls.

“In July, a Lufthansa Embraer with 108 passengers reported a near-collision as it approached Warsaw airport. That same month, there was another near-miss at Heathrow. It is most unfortunate, but one day these near misses will result in a catastrophic, if not fatal, outcome. It is not a matter of if, but when. The Bahamas is not exempt.

Boyer-Cartwright’s nephew, a Spirit Airlines pilot, advised him of a colleague’s harrowing experience.

“On August 28th, a Spirit Airlines flight had executed a missed approach at New York LaGuardia when a drone appeared out of nowhere. It was dangerously close and was estimated to be no more than 250 feet away from the Airbus A320,” said Boyer-Cartwright. That was far too close for comfort and should never have happened. LaGuardia is an extremely busy airport handling approximately 80 takeoffs and landings each hour; the airspace becomes very congested with that volume of traffic.

“Part of the problem,” he continued, “is that it is almost impossible to trace who is flying drones because they are operated by remote control. Some are so sophisticated they can be guided through a cell phone. Most are operated by laptop software.”

According to Boyer-Cartwright, who flew for Laker Airways and Bahamasair on numerous cross-Atlantic flights, and was the first representative from The Bahamas to be admitted to the Lawyer Pilots Association, regulations must take basic factors into consideration.

“First, the need to keep airspace around airports where planes are taking off and landing at low altitudes is absolutely essential,” he said. “That safe space should be declared without delay in Nassau and elsewhere even as debate continues on other aspects of legislation and regulation.” That debate generally revolves around the need for pilot or other licensing certification for those flying drones, whether to establish separate regulations for commercial and hobby drones or base rules on associated risk, and whether flight plans have to be filed.

Regulating the industry, he believes, is also the safest way to ensure that matters of privacy are covered.

“Drones are not a fad any more than the cell phone or the tablet,” he noted. “They are here to stay and in addition to their commercial value whether for movie production or aerial images of land to assess changes in resources, they can be used for tremendous good -- precision agriculture, helping firefighters, assisting after a natural disaster, searching for missing persons,  inspection of buildings, power line surveys, and shoreline surveys. They are not going away and we just want to make sure that those who use them employ them safely and with common sense. Sometimes that common sense has to be defined by law.”

Boyer-Cartwright, the leading proponent for a Bahamas international aircraft registry, will be a guest speaker at the 5th Annual Offshore Aircraft Aeropodium Conference in Grand Cayman October 15-16.


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