Special feature: Drone on – but beware the risks

Just 20ft away – the length of a large van – was another aircraft, but its pilot was nowhere to be seen.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt and a serious accident was averted. But the near-miss, in October last year, was another reminder of a growing headache facing the aviation industry at the moment – the unauthorised use of drones.

The message today to anyone thinking of joining the craze is: "Carry on – but beware of the risks."

This week the British Airline Pilots Association called for crash tests to find the effects of a collision between a drone and a passenger jet after 23 near-misses between conventional aircraft and drones were reported over a six-month period last year.

1. Skeye Nano Camera Drone, £59.99, from firebox.com

Big may be beautiful, but this little gizmo proves tiny is also terrific. Comfortably sitting in the palm of your hand, the drone is as light as a feather, will give you 640x480 resolution footage and the control allows you to do all manner of things.

2. Hubsan FPV X4 Plus Quadcopter Drone with 720p camera, £169.99, from Maplin

When the drone is up, it sends a live video feed direct to the controller and you can then choose what bits you want to record. The camera itself is a powerful 720p and you'll get nine minutes flying time with a 30-minute charge.

3. Parrot Airborne cargo drone, £79.99, from store.parrot.com/uk

This small device may look slight, but it's actually a sturdy budget drone. Rather than giving you filmed footage of its flight, it just takes photos.

That said, it's a great toy and can film the drone in action with a smartphone app.

4. Voyager 6 UFO with camera, £89.99, from menkind.co.uk

One for those who love all things sci-fi, this drone is powerful and the controller is unbelievably easy to use. Click the 'Return Home' button and your device will come back and it's got a strong camera – recording in HD 1280 x 720p – video.

5. Arcade Orbit Cam XL Drone, £69, currys.co.uk

This is a great all-round option. The camera is of a good quality, you can control it up to 80 metres away and you'll get around seven minutes fly time for every 90-minute charge. The controller is very simple to use so you'll soon master the flips.

6. HoverTech Battle FX, £20, from smythstoys.com

This drone doesn't come with a camera, but it is fun. Made to be a kid's toy, we think it's just as entertaining for grown-ups. The drone hovers above the ground and you have to shoot the targets on it using two blasters and darts (supplied).

The figures come as little surprise to Squadron Leader Gary James, safety officer at RAF Shawbury, near Shrewsbury. He says in recent months there have been two incidents where pilots from the base have come within 200ft of a drone. "Given the small size and slow speed of a drone, it will be very difficult for one of our pilots to spot them," he says. "If you think about the helicopter crash that happened in America where a goose went into the cockpit and hit the pilot, it caused the aircraft to crash to the ground and everybody aboard to be killed.

"A goose weighs about 3kg (6lbs 10oz), whereas some of these drones can be up to 20kg (44lbs), so it will be a huge impact."

It is not known precisely how many drones there are in the UK, but one retailer alone claims to have sold 10,000 of them.

"It's not a matter of if, but when, there is a serious incident of a drone colliding with an aircraft," says Sqn Ldr James.

The Civil Aviation lays down strict regulations regarding the use of drones. It is, for example, an offence for an unlicensed operator to fly an unmanned aircraft beyond the normal 'line of sight', which is defined as 400ft above the ground and a vertical distance of 1,640ft. If the drone is fitted with a camera, it must not come within 164ft of another person, vehicle or be flown within 492ft of a congested area or large group of people, such as a sporting event or concert. The problem is that a significant number of people appear to be unaware of this legislation.

"The problem is not usually with the professional operators," says Sqn Ldr James. "Ninety-five per cent of them are very good: they will let us know where they are flying, so we can give them a wide berth," he says.

"The problem is the people who buy them, maybe off the internet, and think they are just a cheap toy."

Paul Watkins is a qualified drone pilot who runs professional photography business 360 Skylens from Hadley in Telford. He is not convinced there is much point in crash testing drones against jet liners.

"The problem is, there are so many different types and sizes of drones, and so many different places where they can hit an aircraft," he says. "The regulations say that drones should not occupy the same airspace as a jet liner, they shouldn't be allowed to get anywhere near."

Mr Watkins agrees, though, that there needs to be tighter enforcement of the law, with rogue users being a menace to legitimate operators. "Usually it is not malicious, it is just down to ignorance," he says. "People buy one, take it out the box, and the first thing they do is take it down the park. They don't realise that itself is illegal; you can't use it without the landowner's permission."

The growing aerial armada of drones is flying high in Britain's skies with the law trailing uncertainly in their wake.

One day, and it could be one day very soon, something is going to happen which will bring the drone honeymoon to a shuddering halt.

The rise of the drones is an example of an explosion of a new technology which advances into an area, the existence of which the law has not even considered. It is a wild, unpoliced new frontier.

There are plenty of rules and regulations and guidelines from the civil aviation authorities. But who, when buying a drone for under £60 to use as a toy or a hobby, is going to study them carefully?

The most immediate threat is that there will be an incident in which a drone is in collision with an aircraft. Concerns have already been expressed by RAF Shawbury, Shropshire's big helicopter training base. According to Squadron Leader Gary James, the safety officer, it is not a question of if, but when, there is a serious incident of a drone colliding with an aircraft.

When that happens, the chickens are going to come home to roost. People will say that, with the benefit of hindsight, something needed to be done to control the drones. Yet we do not need to await that luxury of hindsight to know that a situation is quickly developing which seriously threatens safety.

There is an extra dimension to the risk. Accidents can and do happen, but in the wrong hands drones have the potential to be sinister and malevolent robots which actively seek to cause harm. If a drone has the power to carry a camera and fly over somewhere, it has the power to carry an explosive charge and be guided to a target. A home-grown member of Islamic State may not be practising how to fly a drone for fun.

Then there are the issues of privacy and intrusion. If you are sunbathing in your back garden you are not going to be happy if one of these robots appears above you with its all-seeing eye.

The strength of the drones in ducking stricter regulation is that they are like other flying machines, while at the same time being unlike them. Let us say that something bad happened which resulted in a ban on drones. It would be difficult to frame that ban without catching other flying machines in the net, like radio-controlled model aircraft.

Sqn Ldr James believes part of the answer lies in better education of the public surrounding the use of drones, particularly at the point of sale, although he says that is easier said than done. "I would like to see copies of the regulations inside the box of each drone that is sold," he says. "Maplin are pretty good, they tell people about the stuff they need to know, but if somebody buys it online there is nothing to tell them what they can and can't do.

"And there isn't that much the government can do. I heard recently that 75 per cent of drones were made in China. You can't enforce our legislation in another country."The Civil Aviation Authority, which is responsible for managing Britain's airspace, says it is trying to educate the public about responsible drone use.

"The CAA has a number of ongoing activities aimed at raising awareness around the basic safety requirements of using drones, which includes our 'Dronecode' safety awareness campaign," says a spokesman. "Furthermore, we are already working alongside the Department for Transport and industry partner, to better understand the potential risks and outcomes of a drone hitting a manned aircraft, and this work will provide us with further evidence to drive safety regulation of drones."

Two experts at Wolverhampton University's Visualisation Centres in Telford and Wolverhampton recently gained Civil Aviation Authority drone pilot licences. To qualify, Maninder Sembhi and Alessandro Nicholas attended a three-day course which covered the basics of airmanship, a detailed overview of unmanned aerial systems, reading and researching weather patterns, codes of conduct and health and safety regulations.

Mr Nicholas says: "The course was delivered by a former US and RAF Pilot and was intensive, including both a theoretical test and a practical flight test. It's really important to be aware of the rules and regulations when flying drones to ensure that safety is never compromised. Both Maninder and myself were really pleased to get our pilot's wings."

But while intensive training means that highly skilled experts such as Mr Sembhi, Mr Nicholas and Mr Watkins have the skills to minimise the risks, that still leaves many thousands of unskilled hobbyists operating machinery that has capacity to cause great damage.

"The matter is going to get more difficult when companies start delivering pizzas with drones, and Amazon starts using them for parcels," warns Sqn Ldr James. "It's an accident waiting to happen."

He suggests that part of the answer might be in creating restricted air lanes, similar to those which apply to conventional planes.

Sqn Ldr James says he is actually a big fan of drones, and has one himself. "I don't think you can stop progress," he says. "If you look at any television programme now, there is photography using drones, they can be great use to the police in fighting crime, or delivering blood supplies in an emergency."