óndivididayunaescasavotacióAn Associated Press analysis of an

óndivididayunaescasavotacióThe first reports of near misses involving drones were logged in 2014, the AP found. The number of such encounters spiked the following year. Over the last decade, drones accounted for 51% — 122 of 240 — of reported near misses, according to AP’s analysis.óndivididayunaescasavotacióPassenger jets have long been subject to risks around airports — whether from bird strikes or congested airspace — as was made clear by the

óndivididayunaescasavotacióbetween a military helicopter and commercial jet near Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.óndivididayunaescasavotacióThe threat from drones has become more acute in the last decade as the use of quadcopters and remote-controlled planes has exploded in popularity. Theóndivididayunaescasavotacióthat Americans are operating more than a million drones for recreational and commercial purposes.

óndivididayunaescasavotació“If you have the money, you can go on the internet and buy a pretty sophisticated drone that can reach altitudes they really have no business being at,” said William Waldock, a professor of safety science atóndivididayunaescasavotacióThe risk is most acute near airports because that is where the flight paths of drones and airplanes most overlap, experts said.

óndivididayunaescasavotacióThe incidents represent only a portion of such close calls because the

óndivididayunaescasavotació— NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System — relies on voluntary submissions from pilots and other aviation workers. A separate FAAóndivididayunaescasavotacióExperts said the FAA and other authorities could do more. They suggested creating a system similar to speed cameras on roadways that could capture a drone’s transponder code and send its pilots a ticket in the mail.

óndivididayunaescasavotacióThey also said the FAA should consider regulations that require all manufacturers to program a drone’s GPS unit to prevent it from flying near airports and other sensitive areas, a method called “geofencing.”óndivididayunaescasavotacióDJI, a leading drone maker, used such geofencing restrictions for years. However, it

óndivididayunaescasavotacióin January, replacing it with an alert to drone pilots when they approach restricted areas.óndivididayunaescasavotacióAdam Welsh, head of global policy at DJI, said managing requests from authorized users to temporarily disable the geofencing became an increasingly time-consuming task. More than one million such requests were processed last year.