The looming introduction of unmanned delivery drones to transport medical supplies, food and other goods is giving the aviation industry a headache due to safety concerns.
This is according to Onoria Rocca, the vice-chair of the International Committee for Airspace Standards and Calibrations (ICASC).
Rocca, who is also the president of a Canadian aviation data recording systems company, was speaking to Sunday Times Daily on the sidelines of the International Flight Inspection Symposium at the Durban International Convention Centre on Monday.
He said more delivery companies introducing drones to improve services is “worrying” the aviation sector.
“Small drones will come into effect as delivery companies want to use drones, and this will complicate the navigation system a great deal.
Rocca said regulating who can fly a drone in a time of terrorism threats is a major concern.
“It’s a worrying thing for me, but authorities have approved many of these things because it’s very complicated.”
He said there have been several incidents in which airports have been shut down because drones were identified nearby.
“The use of drones is something the authorities have to deal with somehow and I really don’t know how.”
Rocca said the biggest issue is how to regulate the use of drones and there are no easy solutions.
“You give the freedom to use it properly, then there will be people who don’t use it properly.”
The five-day biannual symposium is hosted by the SA Civil Aviation Authority. It is being held in Africa for the first time since its inception in 1974.
A panel discussion on drones and their place in the aviation industry will take place on Wednesday.
Deputy transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, who delivered the keynote address, said suitable responses to threats in the aviation space require collaborative efforts and integrity of information.
“Such collaboration includes the need for suitable and timely responses to threats and attacks, such as cybersecurity and military preparedness.
“Large aircraft, small manned aircraft and unmanned vehicles all strive for their space in this vast integrated system, and integrating these systems properly by maximising human capacity, strongly supported by technology, while keeping the integrity of information secure, is essential,” Chikunga said.
Hundreds of stakeholders in the global aviation sector, including experts from Germany, the US, Canada, Turkey and New Zealand, are attending the symposium to discuss, among other things, flight inspection system solutions, increasing efficiency and managing errors within the flight inspection space.
Other topics to be discussed include 5G communication interference on flight inspections and the verification and certification of new flight inspection systems.
Rolf Seide, a senior engineer for flight inspection from Aerodata in Germany, has conducted research on 5G communication interference.
Seide said they have had to come up with a technical solution for aircraft where such problems exist.
“In the US they sold the frequencies to the service providers for the telephones and did not care about the interference on the aircraft. The frequency spectrum is too close to the radio altimeter spectrum,” he said.
Seide said countries such as SA, which are rolling out 5G, may soon have to deal with these issues.
“5G itself is not a problem; 5G can be in very different frequency ranges, but those assigned very close to the radio altimeter, that is critical ... only special frequencies are suspected dangerous.”
He said succumbing to commercial pressure is the reason there have been issues with rolling out 5G in the US.
“The commercial pressure is higher in the US than in Europe right now, which is an important factor.”
Seide will be among speakers at a session on radio frequency interference on Wednesday.
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