WASHINGTON – The Pentagon, the world’s largest user of drones, has posted a new policy on signs outside the mammoth five-sided building: No Drone Zone.
The signs, complete with a red slash through an image of a quadcopter drone, reflect America’s growing concern about the proliferation of the small, inexpensive remote-controlled devices and the risk they pose to safety, security and privacy.
Federal law prohibits flying a drone anywhere in and around Washington, an area known as the National Capital Region. Other communities and institutions across the country are wrestling with the potential threat from more than 400,000 private and commercial drones now registered to operate in the skies.
Under the law, hobbyists and commercial users must keep unmanned aircraft below 400 feet and avoid flying within five miles of an airport to avoid endangering manned aircraft. With a maximum weight of 55 pounds, even a recreational drone could disable a jet flying hundreds of miles per hour.
“Introduction of unmanned aircraft into America’s airspace must take place incrementally and with the interest of safety first,” said Laura J. Brown, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.