@LeSwing yes no fatalities yet but last summer (2015) we had an incident at Copenhagen airport where an airliner on approach was close to hitting a drone at approx 1500 feet.
Thanks for the info Peter.
It picks up ADS-B or Mode S, whichever is available to it.
You can see my last flight (well I hope not exactly my last flight 
) here and I have just a GTX330. The FR24 website keeps GA traffic for 7 days. The FR24 app works differently, doesn’t filter alerts, but doesn’t show anything other than somebody in the air right now. So, those parts of GA which don’t want to be identified (for various reasons) just turn off Mode S and don’t install ADS-B.
Whether FR24 picks up low level ADS-B stuff better than low level Mode S stuff, is a good Q. Both will be affected by being at low level, obviously.
Here I drew in the bits of yesterday’s flight where FR24 didn’t pick me up
That flight was from Ostend to Shoreham and the bit where I disappeared south of Shoreham was about 2000ft.
I don’t know if ADS-B is a lot better (the emitted power is same or similar, surely) but I don’t see ADS-B as useful for law enforcement surveillance for illegal drone usage (where the flyer was stupid enough to not turn it off!), and as I said earlier it won’t be any good for commercial TCAS warnings.
Sorry I know this is a bit off topic but I am also under the impression that flightradar24 uses ADS-B data for positioning.
Strangely enough my last flight in a non ADS-B aircraft can be seen on flightradar. The plane “only” has a mode S transponder.
It also has a GTN-750. Don’t know if it sends GPS data to the transponder and positions are part of the transponder mode S transmissions.
But, how will this help with a drone being flown through Heathrow inbounds?
None of the jets can receive ADS-B, let alone use it for any avoidance purpose.
Mandatory ADS-B radiation might enable detection of illegal drone flying but anybody doing that will just turn off the transmitter.
So the only people who will get caught are those few who are clever enough to buy one but are so stupid that they don’t know they are next to Heathrow.
Similarly, that some ultralights and some % of GA can pick up ADS-B is almost irrelevant to safety if somebody was flying a drone near a GA airfield, because anybody doing so is not going to be doing it without being aware of it.
Actually the models I once saw quite near the 20 approach into Shoreham were not quadcopters (whose battery life is poor, for this kind of thing) but normal model planes.
So I don’t think anything is going to work to prevent the dangeous behaviour. Well, if the police put resources into catching people who are flying them really near big airports (not sure how that could be done, but picking up the RF control signal would be a good start) and hitting the pilots with jail sentences, the message would soon get around.
There are also those drone jammers but they are probably quite pricey.
To add: I think most quadcopter fliers have a camera on them. It’s a big attraction. I don’t think they film people in their gardens though, usually.
Peter wrote:
Almost nobody can receive ADS-B.
Not really. Anyone with either a Power Flarm or a third party ADSB dongle can display ADS-B traffic on various common moving maps.
Aaaand: anyone with a FR24 app installed who has reception.
Peter wrote:
My feeling is there is something behind this which scared the **** out of the government, and they did a kneejerk reaction.
As I wrote, this was a court ruling. The judiciary is independent of the executive.
Considering the way the legislation is written, the ruling is quite logical. But I expect that drone users will scream bloody murder — in some cases with good reason — and that the government will soon introduce a bill to change the law. My guess is that the requirements for getting a permit will be relaxed so that users like real estate brokers and the film industry will be able to get permits.
Just like @Mooney_Driver said, this has nothing whatsoever to do with safety. I also don’t see why it should impact model flyers. Model aircraft don’t usually carry cameras, do they?
Almost nobody can receive ADS-B.
More and more can. You’d be surprised at the % of German ultralights that do.
I don’t think this will stop idiots doing what they always did.
Of course not. Nothing has ever done that, and nothing ever will.
there is something behind this which scared the **** out of the government, and they did a kneejerk reaction
The reaction was from a court, not from government
Well, the original poster said what it was. Invasion of privacy.
And I agree.
If I sit in my garden and someone flies a drone over my garden filming me working or sunbathing (scary thought, I agree) and then throws the result on the Internet, I don’t like that. Like you are not allowed to take pictures of someone in his own home without permission. We all have kind of accepted that we are filmed in railway stations and even shops, but not at home, not in your garden.
The ruling had nothing to do with safety, but with that.
Like with every new technology, there are good uses and bad uses. Unfortunately, the fact that such drones with cameras could be bought for very few money has gotten a lot of people ideas which were not good. Like spying on neighbours, like taking pictures of things which were not your business. If your neighbour would hold his camera over your fence regularly, wouldn’t you mind?
Clearly there have to be licensed drones for stuff such as what Adam sais, clearly there should be possibilities for legal and proper business or other stuff like SAR. But it is not necessary that every person in this world can use such tools to spy on others.
In that regard, a blanket ban is wrong, but a clear legislation what is allowed and what not is more than necessary.
Almost nobody can receive ADS-B. Also it does not trigger TCAS warnings.
I don’t think this will stop idiots doing what they always did.
It also won’t stop good people flying non compliant drones in places where they might do damage, so the lack of insurance is not an issue. You can buy anything from China.
It will stop ops where the driver honestly feels he needs insurance.
I am sure film makers will get permits.
Bad news for Swedish model flyers…
My feeling is there is something behind this which scared the **** out of the government, and they did a kneejerk reaction.
