Originally Posted by
Buster11
To put it into perspective, in the winter there are at the very least 253,000 birds weighing between 1.5 and 5kg flying in UK airspace, all of them uncontrolled, and much heavier than many model aircraft. (From RSPB data, a Canada Goose weighs from 4.3-5kg and 193,000 winter in the UK. A heron weighs between 1.5 and 2kg, with 63,000 wintering here). Between 2012 and 2016 there were between 4 and 5 bird strikes per 10,000 aircraft movements (CAA data). Even using the unrealistically large DfT figure of 170,000 SUAs in the UK, and taking into account that most SUA activity is below 400 feet, the likelihood of an SUA impacting an aircraft is far less than the probability of a bird strike. Putting transponders on that lot will be far more useful than doing so to model aircraft and drones, though probably a bit harder.
Agreed, however not all model aircraft are that small. My Dad in a Chipmunk from Manston, (many years ago 1970's IIRC), had a near miss with one of about 6ft wingspan near Dover. He wasn't amused
and it did get reported
. So this is not a "new" problem.