New York’s airspace has become saturated with dangerous, high-flying drones — which pose a threat to planes and choppers while going mostly unchecked by authorities, sources told The Post.
The unmanned craft, which can reach thousands of feet in just seconds, have had close calls with commercial airlines and most recently an NYPD chopper over the George Washington Bridge.
Even though they are illegal to use anywhere in the city except parks, most users are ignorant of the rules or don’t follow them because they know they probably won’t get caught, sources said.
“The problem is, two years ago there were none, and now there are thousands out there,” said one law-enforcement source.
“With the increase in technology, they’re becoming cheaper, and there are more of them and better, so they can fly higher.”
A clerk at B&H Photo Video on Ninth Avenue claimed that agents came to the store posing as customers between October and December, asking “ridiculous’’ questions about drone specs.
She said they sold about 15 drones a day before the spike — and now move around 200 a day in-store and online.
The four models that the store carries range in price from $479 to $959, depending on whether they are equipped with a camera.
Currently, no drones are allowed to be flown in the city, a “Class B Airstrip’’ because of its proximity to major airports, according to FAA regulations. Remote-controlled model aircraft are still allowed.
“It’s only a matter of time before [terrorists] start packing these with explosives and start sending them over here,” said a counterterrorism source.
Two hobbyists, Remy Castro and Wilkins Mendoza, were busted in upper Manhattan on Monday for allegedly using drones to buzz an NYPD helicopter patrolling the George Washington Bridge. They were
both charged with reckless endangerment.
On May 29, the pilots of two planes approaching La Guardia Airport at around 8 p.m. complained to the FAA that a large drone, about 20 feet wide, was flying near them over the southern tip of Manhattan, a law-enforcement source said.
And a couple weeks ago, NYPD Aviation Unit cops flying a chopper over Staten Island one night spotted a “very large drone, about 14 feet wide and boomerang-shaped,” a source said.
“What was unusual was that it was far larger than most drones and the drone was flying at a high rate of speed,’’ the source said.
“The problem is, two years ago there were none, and now there are thousands out there… With the increase in technology, they’re becoming cheaper, and there are more of them and better, so they can fly higher.”
“When they approached [in the helicopter] it elevated quickly and disappeared in the clouds.’’
One of the cops in the helicopter over the G.W. Bridge was stunned to cross paths with the drone — and didn’t initially know what he was dealing with.
“He has to be military, he’s moving,’’ the officer told a La Guardia controller.
Once it seemed clear it was a hobbyist’s drone, the disgusted controller muttered, “Man, there’s really gotta be a better way to maybe disable these guys.”
One of the hobbyists at the controls told The Post that his flying days are over — although he denied that his drone had gotten close to the chopper.
“It was never meant for harm to any plane. I know the consequences, I ain’t going to risk no one’s life,” said Remy Castro, 23.
“I’m never flying them again.’’
So far, the FAA has cracked down only on the banned commercial use of drones, such as by real-estate agents and developers wanting to provide aerial views of, and from, their properties.
And a more comprehensive rewrite of regulations involving drones likely won’t occur until mid-2016, worried industry experts said.
“The sale of relatively inexpensive hobby-grade systems has increased almost exponentially . . . and we are absolutely concerned,’’ said Ben Gielow, general counsel with the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International in DC.
“We’re the only industry I can think of that’s begging to have a federal agency regulate us.’’
Additional reporting by Antonio Antenucci and Sophia Rosenbaum