Operator sceptical on drone near miss

STANDING UP: Toby Mills stands up for drone operators. PHOTO/FILE

A Wairarapa drone operator is sceptical a drone could have been flown into controlled airspace above Christchurch last week in what was reported by a pilot as a "near miss" with his commercial flight.

The "sizeable red drone" at 6000 feet above Christchurch was reported by the pilot of an Air New Zealand A320 who had 166 passengers on board on Friday night.

Masterton cameraman and drone operator Toby Mills said it was very unlikely that a drone would be capable of flying to 6000 feet (1.8km). The legal limit is 400 feet (120m).

"I've been keeping an eye on the forums online on what some of the experts are saying," he said.

"And there's a lot of speculation. There's two likelihoods. One is that it might be possible if an extremely large drone got out of control. But the more likely explanation is that it simply wasn't a drone at that height."

Mr Mills said that a recent study in the United States concluded that the majority of reported air craft sightings of drones "turn out to be something else".

"Around 96.5 per cent per cent of occasions when air craft in the USA have reported seeing a drone, it turns out to be another aircraft, microlight or even a bird," he said.

"It's just kind of trendy to blame every anomaly on drones at the moment as it is something new," he said.

"One suggestion is that it could be a microlight which would be quite capable of getting up to that height and is perfectly legal to fly at that altitude.

"When you're going at 800km/h in an airliner and see an object flash by in the corner of your eye, it's pretty hard to tell what it is."

Mr Mills said that since regulation changes were made this year, "concerns and scenarios have come up as a result", but he is confident that especially in Wairarapa, the likelihood of a drone interfering with occupied air space was "slim to nil".

"Everyone who is flying here is part of a pretty tight-knit group and everyone is aware of the rules so I don't think something like that could happen."

"Any commercial jets passing over the Wairarapa are much higher than 6000 feet and well out of range of even the most capable drones."

He said that Wairarapa drone pilots are in the process of putting together information that covers specifically what to do to legally to fly in Wairarapa.

"And that covers all of the local council rules, where you can and can't fly, and things like that.

"So its a useful resource for anyone that is contemplating getting a drone which they can get by joining up with the Wairarapa Drone Pilots Facebook group."