Drone impact and aircraft certification standards
 

With the latest hullabaloo in London and with the knowledge that there are more and more craft taking to the skies, is it time that the regulators adopt the precautionary principle and specify improved collision surviveability to critical forward facing parts of aircraft structures for new aircraft designs?

I for one do not fancy hitting a drone at 270kias at FL110.

Do we also start looking at ways of randomising minor offsets on SIDs and STARs to mitigate against the inherent accuracy of modern navigation systems or should ICAO alter its rules to allow AIP navigation information for major airports to be made available via a professional subscription only service.

The unregulated use of UAVs has the potential to start eroding 100 years of continuously improving safety standards.

That is quite a big ask, drones have battery packs and often cameras that are substantial and hard. Redesign of jet transports for collision survivability would be quite challenging, plus it would not help the 20,000 plus jet transports currently in inventory
I think much tighter drone restrictions are unavoidable once the first catastrophic accident occurs.