The FAA has announced the release of their 2016 drone sightings incident report, covering February through September, 2016:
FAA Releases Updated Drone Sighting Reports
The prior report, released in 2016, covered the same period in 2015.
- Comparing the two periods, the number of sightings has increased from 874 in the 2015 reporting period up to 1274 incidents in the 2016 reporting period.
- This represents a change from 3.6 incidents reported per day in 2015 to 5.3 incidents reported per day in 2016.
- This also represents a 46% increase in reported incidents, with 2016 having 146% of the incidents reported in 2015.
The FAA comments about the reports:
“Reports of unmanned aircraft (UAS) sightings from pilots, citizens and law enforcement have increased dramatically over the past two years. The FAA now receives more than 100 such reports each month.”
And also,
“Safely integrating unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system is one of the FAA’s top priorities, and the agency wants to send a clear message that operating drones around airplanes and helicopters is dangerous and illegal. Unauthorized operators may be subject to stiff fines and criminal charges, including possible jail time.”
Both the 2015 and 2016 reports are available in Excel format here:
UAS Sightings Reports
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