Bill would regulate drone activity in NJ

As drone testing is being stepped up in southern New Jersey and other parts of the nation, lawmakers are getting an increasing number of reports from pilots about drones being operated dangerously close to airplanes and helicopters.

To combat the problem, New Jersey Assemblyman Dan Benson (D-Mercer/Middlesex) is co-sponsoring comprehensive legislation to regulate the unmanned aerial devices in the skies over the Garden state. The lawmaker said he finds the reports alarming.

Benson said drones are projected to be very beneficial for many types of things, but at the same time "you have the issue of near daily reports from pilots about seeing these vehicles flying near planes, and near misses. It is a growing concern."

He stressed we have an expectation that these machines will be used in a safe and non-invasive manner.

"People should be confidant they're being used properly," he said. "It's important to lay out the ground rules for drones because any technology can be used for good or bad and we've seen too often that a technology left unchecked can be used for nefarious purposes."

According to Benson, the issue of drones being used illegally and posing a danger to aircraft is similar to the situation involving people pointing lasers at planes, which has led to penalties being toughened for offenders.

"If this is an issue we will need to do the same thing with drones," the assemblyman said. "When you have an unmanned drone where you can't see where the operator is, and you're having it at really high heights that can interfere with air traffic, it's always important to check with the FAA for what the rules are. Rules are already in place that say you can't operate any of these vehicles within airspace."

He also said the legislation that is now in the pipeline stipulates drones may not be armed with any type of weapon system.

"While drones have been developed by the military, we need to make sure it's not going to be used for crowd control; it's not going to be used for taking somebody out or anything like that," Benson said. "Strict rules need to be enacted so that if you see them in the sky, you know it's being used for a proper purpose, and it's not being used for snooping or an invasion of privacy.