Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

FAA passes over San Diego as drone-testing site

Protesters celebrate near General Atomics' Poway facility

Turnout was sparse on Thursday afternoon, January 2, at a rally organized by San Diego Veterans for Peace to celebrate a decision by the Federal Aviation Administration not to use the skies over San Diego as a testing ground for introducing private unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones, to American skies.

Sponsored
Sponsored

A large swath of Southern California land was expected to be a front-runner among over 30 sites submitting proposals to the FAA due to the varied terrain, strong support from local politicos, and close proximity to major drone manufacturers.

Northrop Grumman and General Atomics, whose facilities Veterans for Peace have been protesting for over a year, are among several local drone-tech companies. But when the site selection announcement went out on December 30, California was not on the list of approved locations, which included areas in Alaska, New York, Nevada, North Dakota, Texas, and Virginia.

"There are just too many risks involved" in allowing unfettered drone use, warns Air Force veteran Dave Patterson, who has been a driving force behind the protests. "You've got fire risk, risk of improper surveillance, risk of them crashing into airplanes...we're obviously not happy about the jobs that won't be coming to the area [as a result of the site selection], but there need to be stronger regulations in place before we can let these things fly."

Despite dozens of citizens showing up at previous protests and meetings on the issue, only a small handful were gathered near the General Atomics facility on Scripps Poway Parkway around 4 p.m. on January 2. The group said they wanted to continue to raise awareness of the drone issue both domestically and abroad, and that a push still needs to be made for stronger privacy protections and safety measures before drones are flying over American skies en masse.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Drinking Sudden Death on All Saint’s Day in Quixote’s church-themed interior

Seeking solace, spiritual and otherwise

Turnout was sparse on Thursday afternoon, January 2, at a rally organized by San Diego Veterans for Peace to celebrate a decision by the Federal Aviation Administration not to use the skies over San Diego as a testing ground for introducing private unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones, to American skies.

Sponsored
Sponsored

A large swath of Southern California land was expected to be a front-runner among over 30 sites submitting proposals to the FAA due to the varied terrain, strong support from local politicos, and close proximity to major drone manufacturers.

Northrop Grumman and General Atomics, whose facilities Veterans for Peace have been protesting for over a year, are among several local drone-tech companies. But when the site selection announcement went out on December 30, California was not on the list of approved locations, which included areas in Alaska, New York, Nevada, North Dakota, Texas, and Virginia.

"There are just too many risks involved" in allowing unfettered drone use, warns Air Force veteran Dave Patterson, who has been a driving force behind the protests. "You've got fire risk, risk of improper surveillance, risk of them crashing into airplanes...we're obviously not happy about the jobs that won't be coming to the area [as a result of the site selection], but there need to be stronger regulations in place before we can let these things fly."

Despite dozens of citizens showing up at previous protests and meetings on the issue, only a small handful were gathered near the General Atomics facility on Scripps Poway Parkway around 4 p.m. on January 2. The group said they wanted to continue to raise awareness of the drone issue both domestically and abroad, and that a push still needs to be made for stronger privacy protections and safety measures before drones are flying over American skies en masse.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Classical Classical at The San Diego Symphony Orchestra

A concert I didn't know I needed
Next Article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader