In February, President Obama signed an aviation bill requiring the Federal Aviation Administration to make plans to integrate drones into American airspace.
The president included this provision in the FAA’s funding bill. Here is a link to an interview with John Villasenor, who has been writing about drones in Scientific American for a while now. This interview (from NPR), is mostly about privacy concerns due to this new requirement, but near the end of the interview, he hits on what we, as pilots, are most interested in – at least at this stage – which is the FAA’s mission to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world.
The FAA, I think, has done a bang-up job with this, as flying is by far the safest form of transportation today. I’ll be very interested to see how the FAA plans to integrate Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) into the National Airspace System (NAS). Here is an FAA Fact sheet from late 2010 (Fact Sheet – Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)).
Immediately in this paper, the FAA states that “It is critical that aircraft do not endanger other users of the NAS or compromise the safety of persons or property on the ground.” Since UAVs cannot “see and avoid” – which is a primary requirement for manned aircraft – will the addition of UAVs to our airspace put a bigger burden on us – old-fashioned manned aircraft pilots – to see and avoid drones? What if the drone is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand? We won’t see that size of aircraft, even if we happen to be the best traffic scanner in the world. Will ADS-B play a role (such as providing Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS)-like “Resolution Advisories” to the drone and forcing the drone to move out of the way of other aircraft)?
This is a very interesting (and very important) topic for pilots to be aware of.
Let us know what you think about UAVs in the comments!
I could be right if we didn’t have drones fnyilg around over US territory for several years now. They are used by the US Border Police but they have difficulties to keep them air born due to a lack of experienced staff.I think they will use the drones for surveillance of people and tracking of cars outide the city limits.Interestingly the EU today came up with a similar drone program.As for the jobs, I think we have enough government already.We need jobs that contribute to the National income.Government jobs all have to come from the tax budget.I think we can do better projects with the money.
Aneesh: thanks for the comment!
I would think (I have absolutely no facts to back this up) that unmanned aircraft would be allowed to fly under certain altitudes and a certain distance away from airports, etc.
Does you happen to know what the rules are for Remote Control airplanes? Seems to me like they were the original “unmanned aircraft.”
-Andrew
There is no technology that will prevent a “functioning” drone to not wander into airspace in which it should not be operating. It would be foolhardy to expect a datalink to be impenetrable to hacking/jamming. Recent “tests” indicated this is still a flaw that should not be overlooked. Pilots are required (and often reminded by ATC) to see and avoid, what whould be the excuse of a drones’ pilot who hhas no clear view with the onboard cameras.
Initially, Remote control aircraft were usually flown at a lower altitude, and have been know to be a nuisance to approaching aircraft. Today’s R/Cs aren’t smaall fry, they have also grown in size over the years to the point whereby some examinaation of the regulatory aspect is required. Model rockets, the high class ones require more than just plinking around in grandads back yard, NOTAM needs to be requested ane issued.
The introduction of drones into commercial airspace is coming, question is how will it be done? Expert or green pilot, it doesn’t matter. Once the technology goes belly up, the playing field is level, and “we the people” will be left to pick up the pieces and deal with the consequences.
S. – fantastic points! Have you heard anything about possible solutions to any of the things you mention? Because, IMO, “we the people” are going to need to be involved in the solutions if they are ever going to work!
We managed to get an interview with Astraea who run the programme in the uk to fly a commercial aircraft through controlled airspace without piloted intervention. Have a listen http://aviation-xtended.co.uk/ep-16-maximum-flight/
Regards, Pieter