The Current Status of UAVs
1.) Drones have become a pretty interesting piece of technology that we are starting to use more and more as part of our daily lives. People are starting to use drones for all sorts of tasks. These jobs include filming, surveying, delivery, and potentially in the near future, transporting people. Currently, drones are regulated by the FAA under Part 107 of the federal aviation regulations. There are several laws that must be followed. In order to become a commercial drone pilot, the law states that, "You must be at least 16 years old to qualify for a remote pilot certificate, and you can obtain it in one of two ways: You may pass an initial aeronautical knowledge test at an FAA-approved knowledge testing center.If you already have a Part 61 pilot certificate, other than a student pilot certificate, you must have completed a flight review in the previous 24 months and you must take a small UAS online training course provided by the FAA" (FAA, 2016).
2.) UAVs are being operated commercially in several other countries. According to an article on medianama.com, "the Indian government has launched a collaborative research project involving use of drone technology in farming sector for assessing quality of soil and compensation for losses due to flood, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a Lok Sabha query (Salman, 2016)". The article states that the purpose of this project is to improve the quality of soil for agriculture by constantly monitoring it and sending updated data via satellites.
3.) I personally do not see UAVs being implemented into the National Aerospace System anytime soon. I feel as though outside of military applications of drone technology, there just wont be a safe way to allow drones to operate in the same space as airplanes. For one, drones are rather slow moving machines. They're a useful tool to us now because drones have the ability to stay very stable and allow for us to easily observe things. They were never designed to go from point A to B really quickly like airplanes are. Their mission is entirely different from airplanes and helicopters. Another reason drones have become so popular is that they are very inexpensive to operate. People can go out and buy a drone and capture amazing, extremely stable, aerial videos and photographs with ease. in order to implement drones into the NAS, they would at least need to be equipped with ADS-B by 2020, since they do have electrical systems. This is a several thousand dollar piece of equipment that would need to be on these drones. That is much more money than most drone pilots would want to spend in my opinion.
4.) In a military application, UAVs have completely transformed how warfare is conducted. No longer does a pilot need to fly a manned aircraft in a country several thousand miles away live at a base there. The military has UAVs that can be flown from here in the United States all over the world. Pilots do not have to be overseas anymore. They can deliver ordinance from a command station here, then go home to their family at the end of the day. The risk to lives is very minimal. So drones are already efficient in that sense. Also, military drones can be very cost effective. Now, the military doesn't have to spend thousands of dollars training pilots to fly combat aircraft. They can simply train them to fly from a remote station and how to use basic controls. The training process is likely much quicker than that of a pilot flying a manned aircraft.
5.) A commercial drone pilot job I found in Downers Grove, Illinois, for a U.S. Army Recruiting Office: https://www.google.com/search?q=commercial+drone+pilot+jobs&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS753US753&oq=commercial+drone+pi&aqs=chrome.2.0j69i57j0l4.9743j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ibp=htl;jobs#htidocid=EjFX3grXj566Gbp5AAAAAA%3D%3D
Sources:
FAA. Federal Aviation Regulation. 14 C.F.R. Part 107 (2016). Retrieved from: https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=20516
Salman, S.H. (July 20, 2016). Govt o Use Drones for Agricultural Mapping, Crop and Insurance Assessment. Retrieved from: https://www.medianama.com/2016/07/223-govt-use-drones-agricultural-mapping-crop-insurance-assessment/
2.) UAVs are being operated commercially in several other countries. According to an article on medianama.com, "the Indian government has launched a collaborative research project involving use of drone technology in farming sector for assessing quality of soil and compensation for losses due to flood, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a Lok Sabha query (Salman, 2016)". The article states that the purpose of this project is to improve the quality of soil for agriculture by constantly monitoring it and sending updated data via satellites.
3.) I personally do not see UAVs being implemented into the National Aerospace System anytime soon. I feel as though outside of military applications of drone technology, there just wont be a safe way to allow drones to operate in the same space as airplanes. For one, drones are rather slow moving machines. They're a useful tool to us now because drones have the ability to stay very stable and allow for us to easily observe things. They were never designed to go from point A to B really quickly like airplanes are. Their mission is entirely different from airplanes and helicopters. Another reason drones have become so popular is that they are very inexpensive to operate. People can go out and buy a drone and capture amazing, extremely stable, aerial videos and photographs with ease. in order to implement drones into the NAS, they would at least need to be equipped with ADS-B by 2020, since they do have electrical systems. This is a several thousand dollar piece of equipment that would need to be on these drones. That is much more money than most drone pilots would want to spend in my opinion.
4.) In a military application, UAVs have completely transformed how warfare is conducted. No longer does a pilot need to fly a manned aircraft in a country several thousand miles away live at a base there. The military has UAVs that can be flown from here in the United States all over the world. Pilots do not have to be overseas anymore. They can deliver ordinance from a command station here, then go home to their family at the end of the day. The risk to lives is very minimal. So drones are already efficient in that sense. Also, military drones can be very cost effective. Now, the military doesn't have to spend thousands of dollars training pilots to fly combat aircraft. They can simply train them to fly from a remote station and how to use basic controls. The training process is likely much quicker than that of a pilot flying a manned aircraft.
5.) A commercial drone pilot job I found in Downers Grove, Illinois, for a U.S. Army Recruiting Office: https://www.google.com/search?q=commercial+drone+pilot+jobs&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS753US753&oq=commercial+drone+pi&aqs=chrome.2.0j69i57j0l4.9743j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ibp=htl;jobs#htidocid=EjFX3grXj566Gbp5AAAAAA%3D%3D
Sources:
FAA. Federal Aviation Regulation. 14 C.F.R. Part 107 (2016). Retrieved from: https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=20516
Salman, S.H. (July 20, 2016). Govt o Use Drones for Agricultural Mapping, Crop and Insurance Assessment. Retrieved from: https://www.medianama.com/2016/07/223-govt-use-drones-agricultural-mapping-crop-insurance-assessment/
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