Calgary man criminally charged for flying drone near airport

Police have criminally charged a Calgaryman forflying an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) commonly known as a drone in the flight path of aircraft near the airport.

"This is believed to be the first charge of its kind in Calgary, in terms of the illegal use of a UAV," saidSgt. Colin Foster.

• Licence and registration, please: New rules for drones are on the way
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Police saw the manoperating the remote-controlledquadcopterfrom Airways Park, just south of the airport,at 6:45 p.m. on Sunday.

Drone 'caused some concern' at Calgary airport

Transport Canada's current guidelines say drones should be flown at least nine kilometres away from airports, no higher than 90 metres above the ground and at least 150 metres away from people, buildings and vehicles.

"The UAV was seen to be flying under the flight path for Calgary International Airport, which obviously caused some concern," Foster said.

"The concern was that the particular devicehe was using has the potential to go up to 500 feet."

Police approached the man, who made his wayon foot to a nearby vehicle, but officersintercepted him before he could drive away.

Following a conversation with the man,officers decided to arrest him.

Foster said the 25-year-old Calgary resident wascharged under the Criminal Code of Canadafor interfering with a navigation facility in a manner likely toendanger the safety of aircraft.

He's set to appear in court on Jan. 28.

Most drone pilots don't know rules, says store clerk

Pat MacDonald, who works at a called PM Hobbycraft that sells dronesinCalgary, said most people interested in buying a drone are unaware of the legalities involved.

"They want something that's a cheap toy, and they don't realize that there are actually rules against a lot of what they want to do with them," MacDonald said.

He said the store tries to educate customers by providing them with information about the rules and by directing them to Transport Canada's website.

"Some people aren't necessarily going to listen to that, but they probably wouldn't listen to rules in the first place."

New drone rules to come in Canada

In Canada, as in the U.S.,close calls between drones and aircraftareon the rise, and the consequences of a collision could prove deadly.

In December, theU.S. Federal Aviation Administration announcedthat recreational drone users will be required to register their drones by providing a name, address andemailaddress, so that any owners who do get too close to aircraft can be tracked down.

• Drone regulations coming, says Transport Canada

Canada, meanwhile, is looking at bringing in updated drone regulations thisyear, replacing itsexisting safety guidelineswithstricter rulesrequiring licensing,training and registration.

Transport Canada has publisheda list of do's and don'tsfor recreational drone pilots and plans to introduce regulations in 2016.

"We want to make sure that we encourage aviation, and this is a neat new sector," said Aaron McCrorie, director of civil aviation at Transport Canada, in a recentinterview with CBC'sPower & Politics.

"We don't want to unduly clamp down on that, but take a balanced approach."