Drone safeguard tested

BOISE, Idaho — The first national system intended to prevent hobby drones from interfering with planes and helicopters fighting wildfires has launched.

The U.S. Interior Department announced the kickoff of the pilot project Monday that uses a smart phone app and real-time wildfire information to create virtual boundaries, or geofences, that drones can’t cross.

Officials say drones colliding with firefighting aircraft could be catastrophic. Planes and helicopters have been grounded numerous times this year because of drones, most recently on Sunday in Southern California where 10,000 homes are threatened by fire

“We believe this program, which uses the global positioning system to create a virtual barrier, will move us one step closer to eliminating this problem for wildfire managers,” Mark Bathrick, director of the Interior Department’s Office of Aviation Services, said in a statement.

The Interior Department developed the system with DJI, the world’s largest civilian drone-maker, and two other companies that specialize in offering navigational information to drone fliers, AirMap and Skyward.

Specifically, the Interior Department allows AirMap and Skyward to get the latest wildfire information directly from the federal agency’s Integrated Reporting Wildland-Fire Information program.

DJI has its own app called DJI GO. AirMap pushes the Interior Department’s wildfire flight restriction information to DJI. DJI uses it as a safety feature that prevents its drones from flying in temporary flight restrictions at wildfires.