According to The American Bar Association the FAA has only certified two UAVs for commercial use, one by Boeing and one by AeroVironment. Boeing's UAV, the ScanEagle, will be used off the coast of Alaska to survey ice flows and whale migrations. AeroVironment's UAV, the Puma, will be used to monitor oil spills and wildlife surveillance over the Beaufort Sea. Other than these two drones, the FAA has not authorized any use of drones in the National Airspace System (NAS). However, Congress has given the FAA a deadline of September 30, 2015. This deadline requires the FAA to have "safe integration" of drones into the NAS by this date. In the meantime, the regulation of UAVs in the NAS is not very stritc, although the FAA said they would resort to civil penalties if a UAV is caught in the NAS, they are only convicting series issues that result from this breech.
As stated above, it is only a matter of time before UAVs are fully integrated into the NAS. In order for this integration to run smoothly, there will need to be additions and redesigns of the NAS procedures to prevent future issues that UAVs will bring. For example, a solution needs to be found to allow UAVs, ATC, and other NAS users the ability communicate with one another efficiently. From a performance view, the FAA needs to develop minimum standards for "sense and avoid" and separation assurance. These are just a view of the many issues that are involved in the integration process.
These issues are important, but another issue that I'd like to discuss is perception. How will UAVs in commercial aviation be perceived by the general public? According to The American Bar Association, people are already worried about the government "spying" on them with UAVs, and grow more concerned as they become more prominent in our society. People are worried that these drones will be used to collect evidence on people using surveillance and images, then Part of this fear comes from the misuse of drones, when people who are operating them lose control and accidents occur. This was unfortunately the case for a New Yorker, who crashed his own helicopter drone into his own head and killed himself. To the world, drones are dangerous and that paints a negative image for UAVs in the NAS.
Military operations of UAVs has increased the military strategy by allowing more information to be collected before action is taken. For example, the military's high altitude drones are capable of flying at altitudes of 60,000 to 65,000 feet, which makes them extremely difficult to detect. The military can authorize these drones to fly in airspace that is typically not allowed due to territorial issues, but because of their high altitude they are less likely to be detected. These "hidden" drones survey the area of which they are flying over. The information is sent back to the military and now information we never would have received prior to drones is now readily accessible. Financially, drones are less expensive than conventional aircraft, because parts of the aircraft like the cockpit, ejection seat, and everything else a pilot needs is not required since there is no man in the aircraft. This reduction in necessary parts allows for a lighter and cheaper aircraft. However, ethically people believe UAVs in combat are inhumane, because it now becomes man vs. machine, and a machine feels no pain or grief. Personally, I feel it saves lives.
Even though UAVs are still working their way into our society, jobs are already being created. There is an increase demand for UAV external pilots (EP) and internal pilots (IP). Most of these jobs are working for the military as a civilian contractor. Below is a link to a company out of New Jersey who is seeking a full-time UAV operator.
I hate to admit this, but the man crashing his UAV into himself made me laugh out loud. It goes to show that these are difficult machines to maneuver and we need skilled people to pilot them. I got a chance to talk to the Deputy director of the FAA this week, and Mr. Whittaker said one of the largest projects the FAA is working on is the integration of UAS into NAS. It seems to be on everyones minds.
ReplyDelete