SUBSTITUTE
ORDINANCE AS
AMENDED
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago is a home rule unit of government pursuant to the 1970 Illinois Constitution, Article VII, Section 6(a); and
WHEREAS, Pursuant to its home rule power, the City of Chicago may exercise any power and perform any function relating to its government and affairs, including the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and welfare; and
WHEREAS, A recent Washington Post investigation found that law enforcement agencies, universities and other registered drone users have reported 23 accidents and 236 unsafe incidents since November 2009; and
WHEREAS, Chicago has witnessed an increase in "flyaways", which occur when drones go rogue and fly off from their users; and
WHEREAS, Last August, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials criticized a Chicago man for being "reckless and careless" after he sent a drone over the Lollapalooza music festival and posted videos from it on You Tube; and
WHEREAS, Videos have recently surfaced of a handgun-firing drone built by an 18-year-old Connecticut student for a college class; and
WHEREAS, On May 5, 2014, a DJI Phantom 2 Quadcopter crashed into the 30th floor of the Metropolitan Square building, the tallest building in St. Louis, Missouri; and
WHEREAS, Pilots have reported dozens of cases in which drones flew too close to their aircraft, and the FAA has stated that our Nation's air-traffic system is not equipped to handle thousands of small devices flying at low altitudes; and
WHEREAS, Chicago's airspace is among the busiest in the world. In 2014, Chicago-O'Hare International Airport handled nearly 882,000 flights and 70 million passengers, while Chicago Midway Airport handled approximately 250,000 flights and 21 million passengers; and
WHEREAS, On July 21, 2015, a drone crashed into the runway at Chicago Midway Airport while the United States National Guard was conducting a Blackhawk training mission there, causing a breach of security at...
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