OREANDA-NEWS. Dade Aviation Department Director Emilio T. Gonzalez met with U.S. Senator Bill Nelson and other Florida airport directors on February 5, to discuss anti-drone legislation at the ACI-NA CEO Forum and Winter Board Meeting in Orlando. Senator Nelson said he plans to offer a measure that would boost federal efforts to research, test and deploy various technologies to keep drones away from sensitive areas, including America's airports.

"I appreciate Senator Nelson's efforts to block the hazardous use of drones near Miami International Airport and other U.S. airports," said Director Gonzalez. "His proposed legislation would greatly support the Miami-Dade County ordinance approved in January, which prohibits the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) above any Miami-Dade County airport or within one mile of a County runway."

As a member of the Senate Commerce Committee that oversees the FAA, Senator Nelson said he plans to insert the measure into legislation that the panel is currently developing to reauthorize the agency. According to Senator Nelson, a number of companies are developing drone-mitigation technologies that would be able to shut down a drone that strays into a no-fly-zone, such as an airport, or deploy advanced sensors to detect and intercept drones attempting to enter sensitive areas.

In December 2015, a report by Bard College's The Center for the Study of the Drone ranked Miami among the top cities nationally with close calls between aircraft and drones.