Recently in
the past couple of years, civilian UAV use in the United States has been on the
rise. Companies that produce these products have created UAVs that any ordinary
individual can purchase at a relatively low cost, and made it fairly easy to
use for someone who may not have any prior experience with one. We mostly see
civilians using drones for leisure activities such as aerial photography, and
just having fun with it. According to
the FAA UAS getting started website, they give you two options. You can either
fly under the Special Rule for Model Aircraft (section 336) or fly under the
FAA’s Small UAS Rule (Part 107). Section 336 states this is flying for hobby or
recreation. You must register your model aircraft, follow community based
safety guidelines, the UAV must weigh less than 55 lbs, must be within the
visual line of sight, and never fly near other aircraft or notify ATC prior to
flying within 5 miles of a controlled airport. These rules would apply to the
civilian use. On the other hand, Part 107 allows you to fly for recreational or
commercial use. You must get a Remote Pilot Certificate from the FAA; you must
get FAA permission to fly into controlled airspace near airports, and may only
fly during daylight or civil twilight, at or below 400 feet.
Drone use
commercially has boomed not only in the United States, but World Wide. Countries
out in the Middle East, Asia, and South America have been using UAVs to fertilize
crops instead of using planes and other aircraft that can be quite costly.
According to the Business Insider, other commercial uses are; Search and rescue
operations, mapping of inaccessible terrain and locations, building safety
inspections, crop monitoring, law enforcement and border control surveillance
and storm tracking.
Honestly,
not anywhere in the near future. NASA has been working hard doing various
different simulations and flight tests on UAV’s integrated into the NAS.
Without very precise safety guidelines and regulations there could be
significant problems. First off, the airspace is already heavily populated by
manned aircraft. Collision avoidance would have to be state of the art, and be
able to make choices humans think may best suite a certain situation. On the
other hand, individuals on the ground may not totally be okay with these
unmanned objects thousands of feet up over their heads. What if something
malfunctions and it falls from the sky. Without human intervention on board,
there may be no possible way to stop a UAV now turned into a missile.
The first
use of military UAV can be traced back to 1944 when Nazi Germany used the V-1
flying bomb, basically a missile that was guided using jet propulsion, to
attack England during the war. Military UAVs have come a long way since. UAVs
have allowed the military to avoid putting people into harm’s way during
certain situations, as well as saving operating costs. Instead of using ground
forces or large aircraft with human lives at stake, they can use an unmanned
drone to fulfill the mission. Currently, the military is working on making UAVs
smaller, faster, quieter, better camera quality, and able to carry a heavier
payload.
The market
for UAV operators for civilians and the military side are both huge right now
with many different opportunities with various different options. This link has
hundreds of different listings for UAV jobs; http://www.jobmonkey.com/uniquejobs/drone-operator-jobs/
Citations:
Getting
Started. (2017, December 15). Retrieved February 09, 2018, from https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/
Joshi, D.
(2017, July 13). Exploring the latest drone technology for commercial,
industrial and military drone uses. Retrieved February 09, 2018, from http://www.businessinsider.com/drone-technology-uses-2017-7
Reynish, W. (2004, October 01). UAVs Entering
the NAS. Retrieved February 09, 2018, from http://www.aviationtoday.com/2004/10/01/uavs-entering-the-nas/
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