Codebreaker

Domestic drones approved

John Moe Feb 7, 2012


The Senate voted pretty decisively yesterday, 75-20, to allow broader domestic use of unmanned drone planes. Currently drone use is restricted to military airspace, some border patrols, and a handful of local agencies, but under provisions of the bill, the Federal Aviation Administration has until September of 2015 to expand use of drones. The pilotless planes would then fly in the same air spaces as commercial airliners, private planes, and cargo planes. So you’re on the runway getting ready to take off and you might see a plane landing that has no pilot. Welcome to the future. Gets here in three and a half years.

The drone item was part of a larger bill that switches air traffic control from radar to GPS because it’s more reliable and, come on, radar?

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