11-month-old baby injured in drone accident

An 11-month-old baby was struck by debris from a drone that was flying in California, the Los Angeles Times reports. 

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident to see if the drone was being operated illegally, according to the report. 

The paper said the baby was struck with debris that was flying from a drone operating overhead while she was being pushed in a stroller. The baby suffered a forehead cut and contusion as a result of the incident. 

{mosads}The FAA is in the process of crafting rules for increasing the use of drones for non-military purposes. 

The FAA’s rules define small drones as devices that weigh less than 55 pounds and require them to be operated at heights that are less than 500 feet and speeds that are less than 100 miles per hour.

The regulations also call for drone flights to be limited to daytime hours and conducted only by U.S. residents who are older than 17. Drone operators are also prohibited under the FAA proposal from conducting flights that take the devices out of their line of vision — a big blow to companies like Amazon that have touted the possibility of using the technology to conduct deliveries. 

The rules make drone operators responsible for avoiding collisions with manned aircraft that are in the same airspace as the devices, and the prohibit drone flights that “fly over people, except those directly involved with the flight.”

The FAA had been facing pressure to approve a rapid expansion of nonmilitary drone use. Congress gave the agency until the end of this month to finalize new the rules for the unmanned aircraft, but the agency released a draft of the new regulations in February.