It took a bit of a workaround to hide my ass before I was able to watch the BBC Two documentary Britain’s Next Air Disaster? Drones. The hourlong documentary is presented by former Royal Marine commando, sniper, and now self-proclaimed high-risk adviser Aldo Kane. The term documentary is a bit of a misnomer in this case, as the short film tries to instill a fear of drones among its viewers. Rather than looking at all the ways in which drones can benefit our society, it focuses almost exclusively on how drones can disrupt air traffic at airports, severely damage airplanes in a collision, how terrorists might use drones to attack innocent civilians, and how little we can do to protect ourselves from these unmanned aircraft. Not much time is spent on how drones have saved people’s lives during search-and-rescue missions, aided firefighters (Notre Dame), restored communication networks, helped assess damage after natural disasters and wildfires, and delivered life-saving medication and in the future possibly organs to people in need. Instead, the documentary, produced by Horizon, paints a very negative and one-sided story about drones and how they might impact our society.
