16 January 2007
The fabled freedom of US airspace is slowly becoming, er, less free.
There are reports the Customs and Border Protection agency is about to begin flying UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) along the US-Canada border, perhaps for the whole of its 5,500 mile length.
The worry that pilots have is that these UAVs do not have ‘see-and-avoid’ capabilities. In other words, they’re quite happy to keep flying straight into the path of an oncoming aircraft. UAVs have previously patrolled the Mexico border, and the operations were protected by TFRs (temporary flight restrictions – although one of the objections that pilots had was that agencies suggested that the TFRs could be renewed ad infinitum, effectively taking ‘temporary’ out of the equation). When one UAV crashed, the UAVs and the TFRs disappeared.
So there is now concern among pilots that the future of flight operations around and over the US-Canada border could be restricted if and when these operations begin. What used to be a quick and easy trip could now become more difficult.
In addition to the UAVs, the CBP will have 22 pilots flying manned aeroplane and helicopter missions.
There is no fixed date for the start of operations, but Canadian press is suggesting that it will be ‘before September’.
