How they are flyng commercial UAS now?

How are they flying commercial UAS?

I get to talk to UAS professionals across the country and I hear frustration from some about the FAA restricting their operations and then I her others that tell me that the FAA is leaving them alone. These are UAS professionals in agriculture, architecture and cinematography.  They are getting a pass from the FAA. Why is that? First off, they are getting permission from the land owners and business or civic authority that governs the property which data and imagery being collected. The problem comes in when there is flight over privet property without authorization. This is where there is a double standard, for example in the cranberry industry there is a high survey requirement, mostly for elevation and measuring water levels but these cranberry producers want production estimates on their neighbors and competing grows and they openly fly over their neighboring growers to get this data. I can’t imagine anywhere that would be authorized without prior notice. Is that right? Shouldn’t what is good for the goose be good for the gander? That is what those UAS professionals from the RC background are asking for. Before the FAA chimed in on the issues, hobbyist could flying in public areas, parks and open areas. There is an open area across from McDonalds locally where I see hobbyist flying RC planes all of the time. Now the way the FAA has interpreted the hobby rules, those hobbyist are going to need written permission.

What is the big deal?

It is privacy and safety, there is no expectation of privacy for satellites and aircraft that fly over and gather imagery and data right now but because they are either controlled by the government or they have a human being holding the camera that holds the camera? There is a trust issue a play. There is a certain sector of the population that doesn’t trust the government those same people along with others don’t feel comfortable having anyone else spying on themselves or their families on their back yard. This is where notice and permission requirements make sense. When it comes to geospatial data collection, almost daily there are manned aircraft gathering data and they aren’t required to give notice or get permission. This data is sold to civil engineers, surveyors and DOT. Is it safer because there is a person who is supposed to be exercising judgment? Is it because these manned aircraft are flying high enough that the people below them can’t see them flying over? These technologies that are used to gather this data weigh 120lbs to 350lbs for LiDAR and around 100lbs for photogrammetry which can get them accuracy within two centimeters. To get more accurate then that you need to get closer and which makes more sense to do with a UAS than a manned aircraft, the smaller size obviously makes it safer.

UAS design certification

Hoverfly has the LiveSky tethered quad-rotor up to 149 feet approved by the FAA, reinforced by the court but that opens the door to every other UAS manufacture who has the same capabilities, the FAA is going to have to authorize them too of face a law suit for undue favoritism. When you go to the FAA website and search for a list of COAs you will find hundreds or authorizations. If they are authorizing for one use, they are going to have to give authorization to all other similar applications. With authorization given the PUMA, RAVEN and SCAN EAGLE to fly, which opens the door to for other manufactures with similar capabilities demand approval to fly. The big argument is the combat flight hours logged by these systems but then there is Trimble/Gate-wing products that have been used commercially in Canada, Mexico and other Latin American companies. The FAA can’t very well stifle the commercial applications of their technology with significant hours of use for the commercial application for which it was designed. Tremble/Gate-wing is going to be the company which will keep the defense platforms from monopolizing the commercial UAS industry.

It’s not the flying but the product

Then there are those straddling the law by not paying for the piloting of UAS but charging for the imagery and they are getting away with it. What makes it difficult to crackdown on these professionals is when they have written permission of the property owner to gather imagery and data. So far these operators are getting away with these business practices because they are getting permission. It is also problematic for the FAA ho doesn’t have authority to govern commerce. It goes back to the cell phone industry where they give you the cell phones and charge for the services.