MUNCIE, Ind. – The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) has released an updated analysis of the FAA’s drone data which finds a month-by-month decline in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) sightings since peaking in August 2015.
The apparent decrease in monthly sightings is remarkable as it comes despite an influx of nearly 700,000 to 1 million new devices sold last year, according to AMA officials.
Meanwhile, consistent with AMA’s prior findings, only 3.3% of reports in the FAA’s latest dataset contained explicit notations indicating near misses or close calls.
“We’re glad to see a decline in UAS sightings as more people are learning how to fly responsibly,” said Dave Mathewson, executive director of AMA. “Education-focused campaigns like ‘Know Before You Fly’ are clearly paying off. Every day more and more people are getting the information they need to stay safe.”
AMA’s updated analysis reviews the 582 drone sightings released by the FAA on March 25, 2016. This analysis also looks at trends in the March 2016 data and the previously released August 2015 UAS sightings, which were the subject of an earlier AMA report released on Sept. 14, 2015.
AMA is a founding member of “Know Before You Fly” (KBYF), which was created in 2014 to educate newcomers to drone technology about the safety aspects of flying unmanned aircraft and where they should and shouldn’t fly.
Since its inception, KnowBeforeYouFly.org has received almost half a million unique visitors – 81% of which are first time visitors. In total, the website has had over 1.2 million page views since the campaign’s launch.
Among the findings in AMA’s updated analysis:
- In keeping with AMA’s previous analysis, the number of near misses and close calls in the March 2016 data is very small – just 3.3%. The vast majority of the reports are sightings, which even the FAA’s language acknowledges.
- Notwithstanding estimates that as many as 1 million drones were sold during the 2015 holiday season, the number of sightings has not increased as one might expect. In fact, despite a dramatic increase in the number of small unmanned aircraft in the U.S. the number of reported sightings appears to be declining after peaking in August 2015.
- In line with what AMA found in the August 2015 data, many of the sightings may involve people flying responsibly and within the FAA’s current guidelines. In the March 2016 data, AMA identified 38 sightings in which drones were reported to be flying at or below 400 feet.
- Like the August 2015 data, the March 2016 data contains reports of several objects other than drones, including balloons, birds, a rocket and even a jet pack. The FAA’s drone data continues to be a “catch all” for any object spotted in the sky.
Despite the FAA’s intent to find and punish careless and reckless operators, law enforcement notifications appear to be on the decline. In the August 2015 data, nearly 20% of reports were not referred to local law enforcement or law enforcement notification was unknown. In the March 2016 data the number of sightings not referred to law enforcement is up to 29%, AMA officials said.
One doesn’t have to look far into the data to see there’s a number of problems with this. First, the “analysis” is far from rigorous. Secondly, the data itself is far from complete – it is only the last two months of 2014, all of 2015, and just the first month of 2016. Also, neither their release nor the article pointed out that for every month where there are sightings in more than one year, the numbers are up. In November 2014 there were 21 reports, while in the same month in 2015 there were 92 (a 338% increase); in December 2014 there were 22 reports, while in December 2015 there were 77 (a 250% increase); and in January 2015 there were 26 reports, while in January 2016 there were 93 (a 257% increase).
Lastly, it appears that the basis of the conclusion that there’s been a decrease may well be driven more by the seasonal transition from summer to winter, where during the latter it’s reasonable to assume fewer people are flying due to wind, cold, or other weather. Only a month by month comparison across multiple years can even begin to provide enough data to draw meaningful conclusions.
Of note, if one looks at data for a warm weather state, Florida for example, one can see that the number of reports remained relatively steady from March 2015 and later, in fact peaking in January 2016.
Rather than accepting at face value, I would have expected an organization with the reputation of yours to have at least taken an independent look at the data (as I’ve provided above), before furthering what may well turn out to be a biased picture based on woefully incomplete data and weak analysis by a stakeholder with an vested interest in furthering a particular narrative. Not at all what I expect from this publication.