Drones threaten passenger planes over Germany

German authorities have recorded over 40 cases involving drones since the beginning of 2016, air controllers said on Sunday. It marks a sharp jump from last year, when only 14 incidents were noted during the whole year.

Some passenger planes managed to avoid midair collisions "at the very last moment" with drone pilots flying their machines ever closer to the large aircraft, according to an article published in the Sunday edition of the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" newspaper.

The numbers provided by the air authority do not include incidents involving emergency helicopters, the paper claims.

Dangerous high-flyers

Despite the growing number of drone pilots in Germany, the government has limited regulation with which to control them. Buying a drone does not require a permit. According to established rules on unmanned flights, objects weighing less than 5 kilograms (11 pounds) and equipped with an electric motor do not require a take-off clearance.

According to the report, the German Transport Ministry is currently preparing a law to regulate drone traffic, including mandatory identification for all drones weighing over 500 grams. The officials are also preparing a ban on flying the vehicles higher than 100 meters (109 yards) off the ground.

However, the air traffic control wants to impose much stricter regulation, the newspaper says. The officials are pushing for a registry of drone owners in the country, similar to the one already established  in the US. They also want to have drone pilots pass an exam before receiving their license. If included in the law, the test would have to be renewed every three years.

dj/jm (dpa, Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung)