BALPA response to the Government announcement on drones:

Head of Flight safety at the British Airline Pilots’ Association, Dr Rob Hunter said:

“We are pleased that the Government is bringing forward legislation to increase the drone no fly zone around airports from the current 1km to 5km radius.

“This increase is what we’ve been calling for in order to ensure there is a safe separation between commercial aircraft and legal drone operations. This, along with the introduction of suitable detection measures, represents a significant improvement to the safety of manned aircraft around airports.

“We remain concerned that protections for helicopters are still lacking as they operate at low levels away from the protected zone around airports and in areas where drones are frequently flown. We hope the Department for Transport will take a similar safety-first approach to looking at this aspect.”