Is nowhere safe from drones in Hong Kong? It’s time to control the flying pests
- In Hong Kong’s country parks and remote villages and on beaches the serenity is often broken by the incessant buzz of drones
- From June 2022 drone owners will need to register their craft, pass a competency test and take out insurance, but will that be enough?
The inaugural meeting of DADS (Drones Are Despicable Society) was held well away from prying eyes at an underground location in a little-known part of Kowloon last month. The main agenda was dealt with in a matter of moments and members then proceeded to the item marked Any Other Business – namely, smashing a DJI Air 2S to smithereens with lump hammers.
Not quite the sort of behaviour to be expected from a group of supposedly full-grown adults who hold down responsible day jobs? Well, you try maintaining your equilibrium after being buzzed by scores of the little zingers in parts of Hong Kong that were once a haven of tranquillity.
High in the country parks, down by the beach, in slumbering villages in the New Territories – nowadays nowhere is safe from that malign eye in the sky, piloted by some nosy geek who having mastered the technology of getting his (and this is very much a boys’ pastime) new toy aloft flies it hither and thither, no matter that its flea-in-your-ear buzz might be infuriating scores of innocents below.
Recreational drones have been disturbing ordinary peaceable people since 2015, when they took off, to coin a phrase, in the United States, where more than a million were sold in the space of a year. In December 2018, drones were reportedly sighted near the runway at Gatwick Airport outside London: more than 1,000 flights were cancelled and 140,000 passengers’ festive holiday plans put on hold while the police investigated, although nobody was ever charged.
Never before has one selfish little swine been able to wreak such havoc on the lives of so many others with so little effort.
Back to Hong Kong. At present, the Civil Aviation bods do not permit drones (or any of their coevals such as quadcopters) weighing more than 7kg. But any Tom, Biggles or Hari can launch his plaything skyward if it weighs 6.999999kg or less. At least flying at night is banned, likewise anywhere near the airport or other sensitive areas.
Why can’t Hong Kong take some pride in its country parks?
There is a ray of hope on the horizon. From June droners will need to register their craft, pass a competency (ha!) test and take out insurance. DADS has officially decreed this to be the absolute minimum requirement, and will be campaigning for total prohibition of the silliest, most vexatious, pointless and pernicious invention of recent years as soon as possible.
