Beyond a joke (12 Feb, 2018)

[aardvark_admin]

This column is archived at: https://aardvark.co.nz/daily/2018/0212.shtml

Seriously... will people have to die before CAA takes the *very* simple step of educating tourists bringing drones to this country?

If any agency should know how "ignorance kills", it should be CAA.

Since they are doing nothing to manage the risk of tourists with drones, can we only be left to assume that they want something bad to happen -- perhaps as a way of furthering their own power and control over drone users?

Is this really good enough?

If/when someone is hurt or gets killed, will CAA shoulder the burden of responsibility?

Of course not. Remember the commercial balloon operator who was reported multiple times to CAA for operating while under the influence of drugs. They did nothing but sit around watching - and then almost a dozen people died -- but it wasn't CAA's fault, they weren't even found to have contributed to the incident. No, it was all the fault of the balloon operator.

Seriously?

I see exactly the same scenario happening again -- but this time with drones and commercial air-tourism operators.

Good enough? I don't think so... what about you?

[goosemoose]

Seriously... will people have to die before CAA takes the *very* simple step of educating tourists bringing drones to this country?

Yes, along with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi too. I don't want my tax dollars wasted on a glossy brochure at the airport for a minuscule segment of the tourist population. There're are laws of the land and its the duty of the tourist to seek out and obey the appropriate laws. Sure they could cause issues but I would expect if they did then they would feel the full force of the law and its consequences.

[latewings]

If you can't beat them, join them: https://boingboing.net/2018/02/08/manned-drone-flight-ehang.html

[phill]

notification on the immigration forms that drone rules booklets are available ( nothing glossy just a stapled few pages of rules )
would go a long way to informing tourists that such rules exist
most would already know that some form of rules for drone use will exist ( a similar sized booklet pointing out the dangers of driving in nz would also be helpful )

i can see why they upset air tourism operators so much ( just a slight conflict of interests there )
so reporting on what some of their reps think is always going to be fatally biased ( drama queens )

maybe safety should require all aircraft under 500 meters to use strict corridors to landing sites
and helicopters must use a vertical corridor to landing sites


as for the rules themselves .. to recoin .. bad rules are worse than no rules at all

my thoughts on the idiot that grounded the choppers and put his ground crews in danger during that fire are already known

[JonL]

Seriously... will people have to die before CAA takes the *very* simple step of educating tourists bringing drones to this country?

Yes, along with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi too. I don't want my tax dollars wasted on a glossy brochure at the airport for a minuscule segment of the tourist population. There're are laws of the land and its the duty of the tourist to seek out and obey the appropriate laws. Sure they could cause issues but I would expect if they did then they would feel the full force of the law and its consequences.

Spoken like a true beauracrat.

[goosemoose]

Seriously... will people have to die before CAA takes the *very* simple step of educating tourists bringing drones to this country?

Yes, along with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi too. I don't want my tax dollars wasted on a glossy brochure at the airport for a minuscule segment of the tourist population. There're are laws of the land and its the duty of the tourist to seek out and obey the appropriate laws. Sure they could cause issues but I would expect if they did then they would feel the full force of the law and its consequences.

Spoken like a true beauracrat.

Oh no no no son! Spoken like someone who has extensive skills in circumventing or if necessary tying up in knots a bureaucracy

[Perry]

Now I'm sure that the media will continue to blame tourists whenever there's an incident involving a drone in one of our tourist spots -- but really, ought they not be apportioning a fairly sizable chunk of blame at CAA's doorstep?

It's all about regurgitating media releases, Bruce.

Tut, tut.

You're not seriously expecting the media to do some reporting, never mind any of the investigative type?

[phill]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=11993375

caa / airports nz have some interesting people working for them

to state that it must have been within a 40 min period is just gob smackingly stupid
or
none of them have tried to find an arrow / bolt they have fired and remembered exactly where it landed

[aardvark_admin]

Nope, I'm pretty sure that was probably a drone that just looks like a cross-bow arrow

Funny how a crossbow arrow flies through the air and is many orders of magnitude more dangerous than a small toy -- but toys are still seen as a bigger danger, requiring strict regulation. (sigh).

I also had someone email me to day saying that the helicopters at Te Anau are not registered helipads so there isn't actually anything to stop people flying drones in the general vicinity -- so long as they don't pose a danger to those helis an so long as they have permission of the land-owner.

Maybe, instead of whining, the helicopter operators should stump up some coin (in the name of safety) and list their helipads in the AIP.

Nah... easier to just complain to the media.