Close encounters of the drone kind

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By Mark Rockwell
 

Connecting state and local government leaders

By Mark Rockwell

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California leads the nation in close, dangerous encounters between drones and other aircraft, according to a fusion center bulletin.

California leads the nation with the number of potentially dangerous encounters between drones and other aircraft, according to a closely held state information fusion center report.

The state had more disclosed unauthorized unmanned aircraft system encounters than any other state between October 2015 and September 2016, according to an unclassified, for-official-use-only bulletin from the California State Threat Assessment Center.

The public safety bulletin, posted on the California Fire Chiefs Association website on Nov. 15, quoted Federal Aviation Administration data that determined the state accounted for 21 percent of reported encounters nationwide.

“These encounters continue to pose a direct risk to public safety air assets,” it said.

Of the 1,744 close encounters reported nationwide in the period, 358 of them were in California. Although 64 cities in the state reported encounters, not surprisingly, Los Angeles recorded the most with 74, accounting for nearly half of the encounters in those major metro areas.

Since June 2016, there have been at least nine FAA investigations of UAS interfering with firefighting efforts in California and Utah, according to the report. The Forest Service and most fire departments require airborne firefighting efforts to be grounded once a UAS is spotted in operational areas, the bulletin said.

The Forest Service reported in July that in the 2014-2015 wildfire seasons, 15 drone intrusions complicated aerial firefighting efforts in California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Alaska, Minnesota and Montana.

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