Transport Canada

Drone used to drop contraband onto prison yard

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CollinsBay

By Ian MacAlpine, Kingston Whig-Standard

Contraband seized inside the medium-security unit at Collins Bay Institution earlier this month was dropped into the prison courtyard by a drone, the Whig-Standard has learned.

Correctional Service Canada sent out a media release on Aug. 7 saying that unauthorized items including a cellphone and 180 grams of tobacco were seized at the medium-security unit of Collins Bay Institution on Aug. 5.

Institutional value of the seizure was $13,500, according to the release.

A lockdown was ordered for an exceptional search of the institution, which lasted almost a week.

The Joint Forces Penitentiary Squad was investigating the incident, according to the release. But what wasn’t revealed was that the contraband was delivered via a drone, or an unmanned aerial vehicle.

According to sources inside the prison, the drop happened in the evening hours of Aug. 5 during a changeover of inmates in one of the prison yards.

Sources said that when the contraband was dropped, correctional officers got to it right away.

Sources also said some narcotics were included in the drop.

A search was ordered of the institution because correctional staff were concerned over the cellphone, which did not have a charger with it. Officials feared the charger was either already in the institution or another drone drop was being planned.

Sources said the phone charger, and an equal weight of tobacco and narcotics, were found in a prisoner’s cell on Aug. 11.

The Whig was also told that the prison yard is searched every morning by correctional staff to find any items that may have be thrown over the walls of the institution overnight.

On Thursday, CSC would not confirm or deny that the contraband came in via a drone drop when asked by the Whig.

“For safety and security reasons, CSC cannot disclose which technology and design features are in use at any specific facility.” wrote Jon Schofield, an assistant media adviser, communications and engagement sector of CSC, in an email to the Whig-Standard. “CSC regularly reviews the use of innovative security tools that enhance its capacity to limit security incidents and prevent security breaches,”

Drones are becoming a source of concern for correctional institutions as the only access to walled prison yards being from the sky above.

In late July, a drone dropped a package containing 144.5 grams of tobacco, 65.4 grams of marijuana and 6.6 grams of heroin into the prison yard at the Mansfield Correctional Institution in Ohio.

The drop caused a fight among 75 inmates over the contraband. Guards had to use pepper spray to quell the skirmish and inmates wern’t allowed back into their cells until they were strip searched.

Drones have also been a concern following incidents in the last two years at prisons in Quebec.

Correctional officials in Australia are asking for new laws to restrict the airspace over prisons, a law that already exists in Canada.

Derek Cooper, the director of photography for Kingston Aerials, said it would be very easy to make a drop over prison walls.

“Anyone who’s familiar with radio-controlled vehicles, cars, boats, whatever … applying that to drones is a fairly straightforward thing,” said Cooper, who’s one-year-old company provides aerial video and photography for a variety of businesses.

Kingston Aerials also uses its drones for sports photography, construction site planning, urban planning, natural resource management and surveying.

In May, the company partnered with Cataraqui Cemetery to map the 40-hectare site and its 15,000 graves.

Hobby drones are pretty easy to fly, he said.

“You don’t need any training.” he said. “How good you are at flying them is variable, but you can get up and fly these things pretty quickly.”

“Our pilots are different, they’ve gone through ground school for UAV training and they’ve got 400 to 500 hours of experience before they fly our big industrial drones.”

Cooper said drones can be operated from as far as two kilometres away, which would make it easy to drop contraband over the prison wall from a distance.

“They could have what’s called first-person view on the drone so they could actually see what the drone is seeing and that alleviates the problem of the drone flying into things from a distance when you can’t actually see the drone.

“You can pretty much fly anywhere you want.”

But according to Transport Canada, the operator of a drone over a prison is violating several laws, flying in restricted airspace and operating a drone without having the drone in sight.

“The pilot always has to have his eyes or her eyes on the vehicle,” said Cooper.

“If you break the rules, Transport Canada will fine you $5,000. If a corporation or business owns the drone and violates the rules gets fined $25,000.”

Another illegal activity is dropping contraband onto a prison yard.

Against the law, yes, but easy to do, said Cooper if the operator has a view from the drone on their controller.

“You could have a little hook on the drone and basically flick a switch on the radio control unit and it triggers the motor on board to open the hook and down it goes.”

Hobby drones are gaining popularity at a high rate, according to Cooper, who said about 200,000 units were sold per month worldwide in 2014, a number that could double this year.

“It’s something that’s out there, the technology is certainly there.”

Cooper said the technology can be used both within the law, or for sinister purposes.

“You can do what we’re doing, which is awesome applications in industrial settings, or you can break the law and those people are going to get caught.”

ian.macalpine@sunmedia.ca

http://www.thewhig.com/2015/08/20/drone-used-to-drop-contraband-onto-prison-yard

Drone racing like ‘a real-life video game’

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pauldowding

By: 

Forget package delivery. Drone owners have found a much more thrilling use for their radio-controlled flying machines: racing.

The hobby has soared in popularity over the last few months, with a rapid rise in the number of new tournaments across North America.

More than a hundred pilots converged in California last month for the United States’ first drone racing championship, and Canada is set to follow suit with a tourney in Collingwood on Friday.

Racing drones, unlike those flown by police, are small, weighing less than a kilogram, and can reach breakneck speeds — more than 100 km/h.

They’re controlled differently, too. Before a race starts, pilots don video goggles that let them see what the drone sees.

“The whole idea of putting on a set of goggles and flying this thing is like nothing else,” said Paul Dowling, the owner of Autobotix, a store that specializes in racing drones in Toronto.

“You are flying it. You will crash. You will feel like you crashed. It’s not uncommon to see someone flying and see them fall over when they crash.”

Jason Ambeault, project manager at a tech company, discovered drone racing after watching a YouTube video last December that showed a dozen UAVs whizzing through a forest in France. As an avid gamer, the feeling of immersion from a first-person perspective was a huge draw, he said.

“I’ve always been interested in remote-control cars and airplanes, from my great uncle years and years ago,” he said. “It’s like being in a real-life video game, basically.”

Now that he’s become an adept pilot, he hopes to win his first big race at the Collingwood Nationals. But he’ll face stiff competition with rivals from around the world, including the U.S and China.

Winning that race, he said, will require more than just a quick machine.

“It’s won in the corner,” he said. “If you can do efficient moves in the corners, then you’ll have a chance at winning. It’s about skills. The faster you are, the higher chance you have of crashing.”

In Toronto, rules surrounding the commercial use of drones remain murky. In April, Mayor John Tory’s executive committee unanimously approved a motion by Councillor James Pasternak asking city staff to report back on a “strategy governing the use of drones in the City of Toronto’s outdoor spaces.”

Drone flights are also regulated by Transport Canada.

But those restrictions have yet to dampen enthusiasm for the hobby.

“The market is growing exponentially worldwide by the day. It’s inconceivable the amount of growth in the past few months,” Dowling said. “People are starting to see that this is not a fad.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/08/18/gamers-gear-up-for-drone-racing-weekend.html

 

We’re not all bad: drone enthusiast

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by Joanne Abshire

Posted Aug 17, 2015 8:06 pm PDT

Last Updated Aug 18, 2015 at 7:29 am PDT

File photo of a drone (iStock Photo)
Summary

Only a small number of hobbyists are responsible for bad reputation: Enthusiast

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – “We don’t all break the rules,” that from a local drone hobbyist after another unmanned aircraft entered the airspace over a wildfire near Oliver.

David Zheng sells drones for a living, he’s also a part of the group VANDrones.

He thinks it’s stupid there are some obstructing others from doing their jobs and saving lives.

“When you’re driving and you hear sirens you’re supposed to pull over and let the emergency through, but that’s basically what you’re doing is just staying in the middle of the road and not letting the emergency vehicles through.”

He says he knows 80 people like himself that follow Transport Canada guidelines and don’t invade people’s privacy.

He believes there is only a small minority of hobbyists who aren’t responsible.

http://www.news1130.com/2015/08/17/were-not-all-bad-drone-enthusiast/

Are Canada’s drone regulations too permissive?

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by

inspirerte

Geordon Omand, The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — Experts say Canada’s permissive approach to regulating commercial drones has made it a world leader in the burgeoning field, while others warn that inadequate enforcement of the soaring number of amateur flyers is putting the public at risk.

People have been increasingly taking to the skies now that recreational drones are more affordable than ever.

That upswing in popularity, the lack of public-awareness campaigns and skimpy enforcement efforts have put the unmanned aircraft on a collision course with their manned counterparts.

A rise in incidents involving recreational drones interfering with planes and helicopters has some calling for Transport Canada to sanction unlawful recreational drone users.

“Public awareness and enforcement is lacking,” said Ernie Zeisman, president of a drone training outfit in the British Columbia Interior. “They need to begin clamping down.”

Currently, a recreational pilot operating a drone weighing under 35 kilograms doesn’t require either a licence or a special permit to fly but must follow a list of Transport Canada safety guidelines. These include stipulations such as staying nine kilometres from an airport, flying under 90 metres and always keeping their craft within eyesight.

Zeisman said a shortage of resources are mostly to blame for the lack of enforcement.

Commercial drones — officially referred to as unmanned air vehicles, or UAVs — are a different matter, he said.

“Commercial operators very much stick to the regulations and want to be responsible,” said Zeisman. “They don’t want to lose their licence.”

Drones used for research or commercial work must have a Special Flight Operating Permit, unless they’re able to satisfy stringent exemption requirements, such as operating in extremely remote locations.

New regulations are currently working their way through the system and are in part designed to incorporate recreational drone use into the regulatory fold. They would also loosen permitting requirements for smaller-scale commercial operations, freeing up Transport Canada resources.

For commercial drones, Canada’s regulatory framework is emerging as a world leader.

Jeremy Laliberte, a professor at the University of Carleton, says Canada has long been “ahead of the game,” in part thanks to the country’s decade-long history of regulating drone use. It’s only been in recent years that the United States has made forays into the regulatory field.

“There’s far more happening here than down there, to say the least,” said Laliberte, a professor at Carleton University.

“But they’re catching up,” he added.

The United States has imposed a universal ban on all commercial drone operations, with some exemptions. So far, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued only 1,000 such allowances.

In contrast, Transport Canada granted 1,672 permits last year, 945 in 2013 and 345 the year before. Between Jan. 1 and April 30 of this year 330 permits were issued.

The head start has given the country a comparative advantage in the drone sector, said Robert Kendall, executive director of Unmanned Systems Canada.

Unmanned systems groups from Brazil and South Africa have come to Canada in recent years to learn about setting up their own regulatory frameworks, said Kendall.

Canada succeeded in drawing Amazon to British Columbia, where the online retail giant is testing a drone delivery service.

However, some industry representatives argued that Canadian regulations aren’t going far enough or fast enough, and Canada risks losing its competitive advantage.

Jeremy Byatt, chief operating officer at ING Robotic Aviation, called for more government action in allowing drones equipped with collision-avoiding transponders to fly beyond visual sight of the operator.

“If Canada were the first country to properly integrate beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights outside combat zones for commercial purposes, this would help create an industry and keep us ahead of the U.S.,” he said.

The United States is testing beyond-line-of-sight drone flights, which other countries have been reluctant to allow.

“We’re falling behind the world,” said Byatt. “The U.S. will pass us and what was a huge economic advantage will disappear.”

Several uses would apply, from counting wildlife to surveilling natural disasters to keeping an eye on remote pipelines, he said.

“We’re sending people out on quad bikes in January in the middle of the wilderness (to monitor pipelines),” he said. “How dangerous is that?”

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/are-canada-s-drone-regulations-too-permissive-1.2519071

 

Drone shuts down air operations at Oliver fire scene

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by

firehelis

BY BETHANY LINDSAY, VANCOUVER SUN

OLIVER, B.C. — The intrusion of a small drone into the airspace above an uncontained wildfire near Oliver grounded the entire fleet of aircraft working on the blaze for most of Sunday afternoon.

Eight helicopters and an air tanker team were all put out of action when the drone flew close to the Testalinden Creek fire at about 12:45 p.m. Sunday.

It took about five hours for crews got confirmation that it was safe to fly again.

“You can’t even imagine” how frustrating this is, fire information officer Noelle Kekula said during the delay.

“The fire is active and our No. 1 objective is to protect (homes). This is incredibly serious.”

Without “helicopters bucketing places,” members of the Oliver district fire department were forced to “climb the hillsides with hoses in their hands,” said deputy fire chief Bob Graham.

It meant “we had to go out and protect more of the area. The terrain is very steep and rocky and it’s difficult to access some of the spots.”

The RCMP worked to find the drone late Sunday afternoon, but had not found it or its operator.

The airspace over any active wildfire is automatically considered restricted, and Transport Canada regulations make it illegal to fly within five nautical miles to either side of the flames or less than 3,000 feet above it.

Violations can result in a fine of up to $1,000 for individuals or $5,000 for a corporation.

This marks the second time this year that an unmanned aircraft has interfered with crews fighting wildfires; a drone hovering around the Westside Road blaze near Kelowna earlier this summer shut down air operations there as well. The only other previous case of a drone flying too close to a wildfire in B.C. happened last summer in the Okanagan.

The most recent drone was a significant nuisance to firefighters in Oliver, who had yet to make any progress on containing the 15 square-kilometre fire. .

Incidents involving recreational drones interfering with planes and helicopters have been on the rise in recent years.

Earlier this month, a drone narrowly missed a seaplane as it landed on the Fraser River at Vancouver International Airport. The same week, a Cessna 172 flying over Stanley Park reported a drone buzzing around underneath it.

By August 6, 19 incidents involving drones had been reported to Transport Canada in 2015.

A recreational pilot operating a drone weighing under 35 kilograms doesn’t require either a licence or a special permit to fly but must follow a list of Transport Canada safety guidelines. Commercial operators, on the other hand, need a special flight operations certificate that includes restrictions on things like altitude and minimum distances from airports.

Some observers are calling for Transport Canada to crack down on recreational drone users.

“Public awareness and enforcement is lacking,” said Ernie Zeisman, president of a drone-training outfit in the B.C. Interior. “They need to begin clamping down.”

Transport Canada is holding consultations about possible regulations for recreational drone users. Some of the proposed amendments include minimum age requirements, knowledge tests, aircraft marking and registration, and pilot permits for some operators.

With files from The Canadian Press and Gordon Hoekstra and Joanne Lee-Young

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Drone+shuts+down+operations+Oliver+fire+scene/11294451/story.html#ixzz3j3CCTVaK

 

Canadians Find Another Use for Drones: Chasing Geese

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Entrepreneur looks to rid Ottawa of pesky fowl, but others want to name Canada goose as national bird

Steve Wambolt wants to help clear Ottawa of the Canada Goose by using a squadron of drones to chase away the birds. Photo: Alistair MacDonald/The Wall Street Journal
By

Alistair MacDonald

OTTAWA—Two years ago, photographer Steve Wambolt pitched Ottawa city councilors on a plan to use his drone to take aerial shots of Ottawa. Councilor Bob Monette leaned over with a question: Can that thing be used to chase Canada geese?

Canada geese
Canada geese

“I’m sitting in my suit thinking, this guy is nuts,” Mr. Wambolt said.

But the answer to that question turned out to be yes. Mr. Wambolt’s drone has succeeded where years of sound decoys, dogs and sickly-tasting compounds failed, ridding the city beach on Petrie Island of a goose that can drop 2 pounds of poop a day.

Now Mr. Wambolt has big ambitions. He wants to clear Canada’s capital of the Canada goose, by creating a squadron of drones to be flown from strategic stations around Ottawa.

That could ruffle feathers in a country with a highly conflicted view of the goose to which it has given its name. While reviled for its ability to defecate every 20 minutes, Branta Canadensis is often seen here as a hardy survivor whose noisy migration home in the spring sounds the welcome end of another long winter.

Some Canadians are even leaning toward naming this goose its “national bird,” in the same way the U.S. has the Bald Eagle. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society is currently asking Canadians to choose a national bird by voting online, and plans to lobby the government to make the winner part of national celebrations in 2017 marking 150 years of the country’s confederation.

“Among the first to arrive in spring, and last to leave in winter, they mate for life and both parents share in raising their young,” Canadian novelist Will Ferguson wrote, praising the Canada goose’s loyalty on the geographical society’s website.

“If I’m going to be chased through a public park anyway, I would rather it be by a national emblem,” said Mr. Ferguson, who has written humorous books on Canadian culture.

The prospect of the goose winning the title leaves Mr. Wambolt with a tough pitch: Chasing what could be the national bird out of the nation’s capital.

On a recent visit to Petrie Island, Mr. Wambolt pointed to the rationale for his pitch, the spotless grass.

“I’ll give you a dollar for every piece of poop you find,” he said. “Last year, you couldn’t even walk here for it.”

Canada Geese swim at Andrew Hayden Park. ENLARGE
Canada Geese swim at Andrew Hayden Park. Photo: Alistair MacDonald/The Wall Street Journal

For Petrie Island park janitor André Killeen, Mr. Wambolt’s drone couldn’t have been more welcome. It had been Mr. Killeen’s job to clean up after the 300-odd geese that used to gather on this beach.

“It doesn’t break well, it just smears,” he said. “That drone has been remarkably efficient.”

The Goosebuster, as Mr. Wambolt calls his drone, is 26 inches wide with six rotors. It has a number of modifications, including speakers that blast the sounds of predator birds, such as eagles, hawks and buzzards, a strobe light and a coat of black paint.

“They don’t like the color black,” he said.

The Goosebuster comes as the North American goose population, once in decline, is on the rise. The U.S. government’s Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that last year there were at least 4.8 million Canada geese in North America.

The geese thrive among the manicured lawns of the golf courses and public spaces that they like to graze upon. Left unchecked, urban goose populations can double in size every few years, according to the City of Ottawa.

Mission accomplished on Petrie, Mr. Wambolt is now setting his sights on fresh—albeit soiled—fields.

At Andrew Haydon Park, on the other side of the city, Mr. Wambolt moved stealthily over the rolling lawns clutching his drone.

“What we are looking for is footprints and goose poop,” he said. Within minutes, this former Canadian soldier had spotted an abundance of both. He shook his head in disgust at the piles of poop covering both path and grass.

Soon, Mr. Wambolt spotted a gaggle of geese heading out of the Ottawa River. “Look at that big mama sitting in the middle of them,” he said.

Mr. Wambolt set his drone to the sound of an eagle and flew it up over the geese, sending them fleeing, honking, back toward the river. In repeated flybys, it took only minutes for Mr. Wambolt to herd the entire flock back into the river.

Ridding the parks of the droppings isn’t just about aesthetics, Mr. Wambolt and others say. The waste can contain bacteria ranging from E. coli to listeria and pose a health risk to the children who frequent city parks.

Denise Clarke says her young grandchildren no longer want to come to Andrew Haydon Park, fearful of aggressive geese and their slippery excrement. Canada geese will occasionally attack people when they feel their family is under threat.

“I hope it works,” she said, looking at Mr. Wambolt’s Goosebuster.

Not everybody in the park is a fan of the Goosebuster. Linda Hay had been photographing the “big mama” before Mr. Wambolt’s drone chased it off. The bird was actually a Brant goose from the Arctic, one of 69 different bird species in Andrew Haydon Park, Ms. Hay said.

“They are beautiful, and if you scare the geese, you will scare everything else away,” she said.

Recently, Mr. Wambolt wrote up a proposal to clear all of Ottawa’s parks of geese and submitted it to the city council. But it faces opposition, including from the city councilor, Mr. Monette, who first suggested using the drone to target geese. “I don’t think anybody wants to get rid of them, period,” Mr. Monette said.

In Andrew Haydon Park, Mr. Wambolt’s appearance continued to generate debate among gathering birders about whether the goose was worthy of being a national symbol.

“No, no, no,” said Roy John, a member of the Monday Morning Birders Club. “The Black-capped Chickadee is cheerful in all weathers, it’s tame, it’s friendly, it’s very Canadian,” he said.

The birders’ arrival at the park had sent Mr. Wambolt back to his car, much as he had sent the geese back into the river.

Asked why not the goose for national bird, Mr. John pointed to a path caked in its fecal matter: “Canada geese are everywhere in Canada.”

—Paul Vieira contributed to this article.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/canadians-find-another-use-for-drones-chasing-geese-1439510869

RCMP investigate after drone nearly hits Eston, Sask. resident

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CBC News

RCMP are investigating after a drone reportedly fell out of the sky and nearly hit a person in Eston, Sask. earlier this month.

Police say on Aug. 1, the drone fell into a tree in a backyard and then almost hit someone who lived on the property.

No one was injured and no property was damaged.

Police removed the drone, which is also known as a ‘small unmanned air vehicle’, from the property and put it in a safe area.

RCMP have contacted Transport Canada and the Town of Eston, which is approximately 209 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon.

As the investigation continues, officials are uncertain as to whether or not any charges will be laid.

According to Transport Canada, if the aircraft weighs less than 35 kilograms and is used for recreational purposes, it can be flown without permission.

However there are a number of rules that must be followed. For example, drones cannot be flown closer than 150 metres to people, animals, buildings, structures, or vehicles.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/rcmp-investigate-after-drone-nearly-hits-eston-sask-resident-1.3190487

School of drones: B.C. instructors offer classes on commercial drone flying

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drone-school

A drone school is opening later this month and offering classes in B.C.’s interior.

Over the last decade, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles or ‘drones’ have drastically expanded, but the regulations and training have continued to lag behind.

Ernie Zeisman and his business partner Ron Wyres decided to begin offering courses for people wanting to learn how to fly drones commercially.

They will be operating out of a commercial airport in Grand Forks, B.C.

“They are getting extremely popular and the problem is you can buy them off the shelf,” said Wyres.

“Most people don’t realize you have to have training, have insurance and be qualified under Transport Canada.”

Zeisman gravitates towards drones for jobs like power line inspections, which he says are cheaper and safer than helicopters.

Their announcement comes on the heels of yet another close call last week when a drone almost hit a seaplane flying over Vancouver.

In the meantime, Transport Canada continues to review this country’s drone regulations.

“It’s the wild west right now and they are trying to figure out how to get a handle on it,” said Wyres.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/school-of-drones-b-c-instructors-offer-classes-on-commercial-drone-flying-1.3185753