Photo credit: Richard Unten licensed under CC BY 2.0
by David M. Sykes, Vice Chair, The Quiet Coalition
The 36 members of the Congressional Quiet Skies Caucus, along with it’s 36 regional affiliates groups, the National Quiet Skies Coalition, deserve congratulations for the many years of work they put into getting language into the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act. That language forces the long recalcitrant FAA to take community noise much seriously.
We were both amazed and relieved that President Trump signed the Act, which included the new noise-control measures. Nothing’s perfect, but this is a step forward.
But watch out, here comes another noise problem embedded in the same Act: corporate fleets of drone aircraft invading neighborhoods to make home deliveries for Amazon, Google, UPS, etc.
If you’ve been exposed to recreational drones—which typically have four rotors–you know they’re battery powered but not noise free. In fact, a recreational drone sounds disturbingly like a swarm of mosquitos. Listen here:
But these corporate drones are much bigger and capable of carrying 5-pound packages to your neighbor’s door.
How bad can that be? Carrying a 5-pound package may require drones with as many as 13 rotors—3 times as many as a tiny recreational drone.
We sincerely hope the Congressional Quiet Skies Caucus is ready to roll up their sleeves and get back to work. “Invasion of the drones” is about to begin….
