Germany: Drone incidents rise less than expected in 2017

Incidents involving drones and commercial aircraft rose last year in Germany though less than expected given the popularity of the devices, air traffic authorities said Wednesday. An increase in near collisions by unmanned aircraft and commercial jets has fueled safety concerns in the aviation industry and on Tuesday the world’s airlines endorsed the development of a UN-led global registry for drones. The Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) air traffic authority said the number of incidents involving drones flying near commercial aircraft rose to 88 in 2017, up from 66 the previous year. “Until July, we had a very strong growth rate of incidents, so we originally thought that the 66 incidents from 2016 would be doubled, but they didn’t,” DFS Chief Executive Klaus-Dieter Scheurle told a news conference on Wednesday. So far this year, 14 incidents have been reported. He said that work by the DFS to educate the public on the risks involved with flying drones close to commercial air traffic was paying off. A free app launched by the DFS to show the rules has had 35,000 active users since July.<br/>