Following on from new laws introduced in 2018 restricting the use of drones and bringing forward a new drone-users register, the UK government has announced new legislation to extend the ‘no-fly’ zone around airports, banning drones from flying within 5km of runways.
The new exclusion zone will be increased by several kilometres, including banning drone flight within 5km of runway ends. The enlarged zone aims to better protect the UK’s airports from those misusing drones, and will come into force on 13 March 2019.
Work to progress a new Drones Bill is also under way and will be introduced in due course. It will give police officers powers to stop and search people suspected of using drones maliciously above 400ft or within 5km of an airport with the aim of helping them to tackle disruption such as that seen at Gatwick in December. It will also give additional new powers to the police to clamp down on those misusing drones and other small unmanned aircraft, including the power to access electronic data stored on a drone with a warrant.
The Home Office is also reviewing the UK’s approach to countering the malicious use of drones, and will consider how best to protect the full range of the UK’s critical national infrastructure, including testing and evaluating technology to counter drones.
