U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida said it’s time to strengthen regulations for commercial drones.
Nelson penned a letter to four federal agencies that both praised the technological advance of drones,but asking for input on new regulations. He said the upcoming Federal Aviation Administration bill will address penalties for violating rules.
Nelson spoke to reporters while holding a commercial drone.
“When the first one of these is sucked into the jet engine of a commercial aircraft and 250 people go down, it’s not gonna be a matter of ‘Oh, we don’t want government regulation,'" Nelson said. “We gotta put some teeth in the law to keep these from causing people to go to their death."
Nelson said drones must stay away from airports, stay below a certain altitude and be within line-of-sight for amateurs. There have been 13 near-miss incidents in the Orlando area, Nelson said.
Here’s a snapshot of real drone headlines:
- Prison yard free-for-all after drone drops drugs
- Unauthorized drone flies over Disney, Universal
- Passenger spots drone near plane at LaGuardia
