Growing use of drones raises concern over safety of public

Dar es Salaam. The increasing use of civil unmanned aircraft systems, commonly known as drones, is coming with the challenge of integrating them into the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system so that they do not interfere with operations of other aircraft.

The Tanzania Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (TATCA) president, Mr Shukuru Nziku, said yesterday that there is a challenge of controlling them because the drone technology is still new in Tanzania.

Mr Nziku made the remark at an event to celebrate the international day of the air traffic controllers held here.

He called on stakeholders including researchers and manufactures of drones to come up with supportive communication and surveillance systems linking drones to air traffic controllers.

“Drones fly blindly, so stakeholders need to work on the challenge to pave a way for a safe integration into the ATC system as it is happening in some other few countries,” he said.

Last year, the US-based Raytheon and AirMap Companies were hoping to develop solutions to provide a complete, real-time view of manned and unmanned flights in US airspace, helping allay rising fears that increasing drone traffic is putting the national air transportation network at grave risk.

“When drones fly in controlled airspace, they are sharing the skies with many other types of aircraft,” said Mr Nziku.

“Air traffic controllers need real-time airspace awareness and alerts to unusual drone activity, it is a key step on the path toward safe drone integration into the national airspace system.”

However, he said Tanzania had so far not recorded any incident of drones collision with aircraft.

He said TATCA foresaw accidents to happen in the future as it does in other countries, unless precautionary measures were taken. According to him, in other parts of the world, there have already been experienced aircraft collisions with drones, and many near-misses, raising awareness of the growing problem.

Mr Nziku said the incident of a drone getting sacked into an aircraft engine was recently reported in Australia, causing a threat to commercial aircraft.

Efforts to get comment on the matter from the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) director general, Mr Hamza Johari, proved futile yesterday as his phone went unanswered.

But, for security reasons, according to TCAA, drones may not be flown within three kilometres of any domestic airport or five kilometres of any international airport. There are approximately over 200 drones in the country, according to the regulator.

Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) Civil Aviation manager Mwanajumaa Kombo cited budget constraints as another challenge that air traffic controllers were grappling with.

“There is a rapid change in aviation technology and for us to cope with it, we need enough money for training air traffic controllers,” said Ms Kombo.

In another development, TATCA yesterday donated to the Ukonga Prison a Sh1.16 million worth four tailoring machines and an overlock machine.