Good Idea ‘Flies Away’

Derek Wu
Staff Writer

Drones are an emerging market in our world today. Amazon, one of the biggest online retailers in the world recently announced the “Amazon Air” project that will deliver packages by drones in less than 30 minutes. Is this the reality of the future? Flying robots in the sky? As Amazon says, “it’s real.” However, what happens if drones malfunction and do not work like they are supposed to?

One problem that often occurs in drones are, “flyaways” according to the Wall Street Journal. “Flyaways” are when the drones are set free and they never come back to the user. This is the result of glitches, GPS connection loss, and collisions into ponds,buildings, and other objects. Other problems that drones face is that there is no regulation in sky by the Federal Aviation Administration. Often times according pilots report drones that are too close to their aircraft which will ultimately cause problems as the drones might disturb the flow of the aircraft. This could be prevented if drones were in the hands of experienced users; however many drones are now flown by novice users who do not know what they are doing. Problems arise when inexperienced users struggle to control their drone which causes flyaways and crashes.

The FAA is looking into regulating drones in the next few years. Drones are the next big technology, but with these problems that arise, it might be another few decades until we can really perfect the use of drones.