A Look At UAVs

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are being used for a variety of civilian purposes. The use of UAVs, or “drones”, ranges from hobby to commercial. Most UAVs have a video camera attached, and they are used in aerial photography for commercial real-estate and movie production, and inspection of towers and windmills. Civilian UAVs are currently regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). UAVs can either fall under regulations for model aircraft, the Special Rule for Model Aircraft, or under the Small UAS Rule. The Small UAS Rule can be found under the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 107.

For hobby use, UAVs have to be registered for $5 every 3 years. The UAV must weigh less than 55 pounds and be flown within “visual line of sight”. The operation of UAVs must be “within community-based safety guidelines”. Model aircraft are not to be flown near airports without notifying air traffic controllers, and never flown near aircraft or emergency response efforts according to the FAA’s “Fly under the Special Rule for Model Aircraft” (2018).

For recreational or commercial use, the FAA’s Part 107 has stricter requirements on drones. The operator must acquire a Remote Pilot Certificate. The requirements for a Remote Pilot Certificate are a 16-year age minimum, an FAA aeronautical knowledge test, and TSA security screening. Specific rules for Part 107 can be found in that part and an abbreviated list of operating requirements is listed below:

·       Unmanned aircraft must weigh less than 55 pounds, including payload, at takeoff

·       Fly in Class G airspace*

·       Keep the unmanned aircraft within visual line-of-sight*

·       Fly at or below 400 feet*

·       Fly during daylight or civil twilight*

·       Fly at or under 100 mph*

·       Yield right of way to manned aircraft*

·       Do not fly directly over people*

·       Do not fly from a moving vehicle, unless in a sparsely populated area*

All information here was provided by the FAA’s “Fly under the Small UAS Rule” (2017).

UAVs are being operated in a vast array of commercial industries in other countries. In Japan, “precision agriculture” involves the use of UAVs. According to Joshi (2017), “Precision agriculture is a farming management concept that uses drones for agriculture to measure, observe, and respond to variability found in crops”. Drones were also used at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. According to the Rachel Feltman of The Atlantic,

Drones are being used to film ski and snowboarding events at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, as you may have noticed. But the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for sports photography is far from a passing gimmick. In fact, you should expect more and more athletic events to be filmed by drone (2014).

I think that it is inevitable that UAVs will become more integrated into the NAS, since the FAA is already working on regulations for wider operation. Eventually, drones will most likely be operated out of areas similarly to airports. The traffic of UAVs will be much greater in the future, as their technology and possible applications advance. I believe that routing of drones will create a logistical problem as traffic increases. Drones won’t be operating at much higher altitudes than they’re allowed to now, so the only phases where drones are an issue are takeoff and landing, which just so happen to be the most critical phases of flight for airplanes.

A perception problem could be the conflict to privacy that drones pose. Law enforcement is working on using drones, and people may feel that it is an invasion of privacy to watch people with drones, as drones often carry cameras.

UAVs in the military, according to BBC News, are used “in situations where manned flight is considered too risky or difficult. They provide troops with a 24-hour "eye in the sky", seven days a week. Each aircraft can stay aloft for up to 17 hours at a time, loitering over an area and sending back real-time imagery of activities on the ground” (2012). Drones are primarily tasked with intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, checking for explosive devices, close air support, and more. Drone operation began under President Bush, but former-President Obama defended drone strikes for their precision. The US does not often speak publicly of their drone use, but drones are known to be effective and help to keep people out of danger. The financial costs outweigh the loss of human life, but from an ethical perspective, people take issue with the collateral damage of civilians that drones have a history of causing.

There are many UAV job postings on both the development side and the flying side:

https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Uav&start=10&vjk=c5b22d69cdbb62fb

https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Uav&start=10&vjk=e5b9a9451ed4b8fd

https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Uav&start=30&vjk=f06c7325b0670602

https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Uav&start=50&vjk=26a97d0438f08752

Sources:

BBC News. (2012, January 21). Drones: What are they and how do they work? BBC

News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-10713898

Federal Aviation Administration. (2017, December 14). Fly under the Small UAS rule.

Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/part_107/

Federal Aviation Administration. (2018, February 1). Fly under the Special Rule for

Model Aircraft. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/model_ aircraft/

Feldman, Rachel. (2012, February 19). Drones Are the Future of Sports Photography.

The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://mashable.com/2014/02/19/future-sports-pho

tography-drones/#5mokBllw5sqp

Joshi, D. (2017, August 15). What are drones good for? Common commercial

applications of drones in agriculture, business and the military. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://w ww.businessinsider.com/commercial-drone-uses-agriculture-business-military-2017-8