C Q V e R STORY

Invasion of the

As u n m a n n e d a irc ra ft c a lle d d ro n e s s ta r t to f il l th e sk ies , p e o p le a re w o rr ie d a b o u t s a fe ty a n d p riv a c y .

Shortly after 3 a.m. on January 26, a Secret Service officer patrolling the White House lawn

noticed a suspicious object flying just above the ground. It was about 2 feet wide and had four small propellers like those on a helicopter. The White House went on high alert. After the object crashed into a tree, officials rushed to check it out. The unwelcome flying machine was a remote-controlled aircraft known as a drone, or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Luckily, the drone wasn’t being used to harm anyone. It was just an expensive toy that had gotten away from someone who was flying it nearby. Although no one was injured, the incident raised some serious questions about drones. It’s the latest chapter in the debate over whether these unmanned aircraft

m im m minnovative (IN-uh-vay-tiv) adjective, original and unusually creativecom m ercial (kuh-MUR-shuhl) adjective, having to do with a business or with making money

are useful tools or a threat to our safety and privacy.

Drones All Around UsThe first widespread use of

drones was by the U.S. military in the 1930s. Pilots and gunners used them for target practice, shooting them out of the sky. Today, the military remains the leading user of drones {see Drones in War”). But companies

have also begun making smaller, cheaper drones that civilians can fly too. For example, UAVs like the one that crashed onto the White House lawn can be bought online for as little as $500.

Drones equipped with cameras are being used in many in n o va tive ways. Movie directors use drones to film scenes from a bird’s-eye view for movies like Transformers: Age of Extinction. Farmers use them to monitor the health of their crops and livestock. And scientists recently used drones to count and study sea lions in Alaska.

Law-enforcement officials say drones can be an effective tool for them too. Police departments have purchased drones for tasks ranging from assisting with rescue missions to searching for suspected criminals.

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Drones in W arDrones are playing a bigger

role in warfare than ever before. In fact, nearly one in three U.S. military aircraft are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Some are the size of large model airplanes. Others are as big as a small jet and can hold up to 3,000 pounds of missiles and bombs.

Sitting in front of video screens at military bases in the U.S., drone operators use

Drones may even be arriving at your doorstep in the future. Amazon, the online retail store, hopes to one day use drones to deliver packages to customers. Domino’s recently tested delivering pizzas using drones.

“The uses are limited only by the imagination,” says Colin Guinn of 3D Robotics, a major U.S. drone manufacturer.

The Drone D ebateThe increased popularity of

drones has raised safety concerns. Drones can be difficult to control. Wind gusts and software glitches have caused people to lose control of them. Most of these “flyaways”—like the one at the White House—end with the drones smashing into trees or buildings.

But drones have also come dangerously close to colliding with passenger planes. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversees the use of non­military aircraft in the U.S. Last year, it reported more than 20 near misses between drones and other aircraft, including several at major airports. Many people fear that a drone could get

sucked into the engine of an airliner, causing it to crash.

In addition, many legal experts are concerned that drones with cameras could be used to invade people’s privacy.

“Someone could fly them around their neighborhood and capture images of people in their backyards,” says Hillary Farber. She’s a professor at the University of Massachusetts School of Law who has written about privacy issues related to drones.

Many people are also worried that the government and the police could use drones to spy on citizens.

There’s a lot of confusion over who can fly drones and for what purposes. The FAA has strict rules about the commercial use of drones. But recreational use of drones has grown so quickly that the FAA has yet to make clear regulations for everyday drone operators. The FAA is working to create official rules for recreational users.

“It’s all about finding balance,” says Farber. “How are we going to use [drones] in a way that’s safe and not invading people’s privacy?”

—by Joe Bubar

joysticks to control drones thousands of miles away.Since 2002, the U.S. has used drones to attack hundreds of suspected terrorists in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.

Drones have some advantages over piloted aircraft. They can stay in the air for days, and they keep pilots from having to face the dangers of the battlefield. The military says UAV strikes are very precise.

But the use of military UAVs has also created controversy. Human rights groups argue that many drone attacks have accidentally killed civilians. Critics also say drones make war seem more like a video game rather than a real life- and-death situation.

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