AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - April 2015 - 60

REGS TO SET GROUND
RULES FOR UNMANNED OPS

Proponents of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)-sometimes called drones or
unmanned aerial vehicles-point to the
technology's potential to take humans out
of harm's way and cut costs, sometimes by
orders of magnitude. Yet only recently has
a regulatory framework been proposed
to begin the process of safely integrating
these diverse systems with other users
of the national airspace-users that have
humans on board. In the regulatory vacuum, a few companies have obtained ad
hoc approval to fly in remote or protected
places. Others have staked their businesses
on the creation of regulations that have
been slow to come. Still others have simply flown anyway.
As technology advances, small,
unmanned consumer aircraft get cheaper
and easier to use, and can be paired with
better, lighter cameras. High-end systems
get more capable and more complex, making them desirable for specialized missions.
Companies large and small see profit and
promise in unmanned aircraft systems, and
they're not likely to go away anytime soon.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION

When a car is rammed off a ledge and
plunges to the ground in the Keanu Reeves
action film John Wick, the audience sees
the crushing metal from the vantage point
of a lightweight multicopter.
"You could have done a shot like that
with a manned aircraft, but the amount of
risk that would have been involved would
have been crazy," said Chris Schuster of
Vortex Aerial, one of six companies that
received an exemption from the FAA in
September to operate small unmanned
aircraft to film for movies and television.
Vortex uses aircraft that range in gross
weight from 12 to 35 pounds. Unmanned
aircraft can sometimes get shots that are
more intimate and dynamic with a higher
degree of safety, simplicity, and efficiency-
and at a lower cost, he added.
A much lower cost. The Association
f o r U n m a n n e d Ve h i c l e S y s t e m s
International (AUVSI) estimates that
unmanned aircraft can cost as little as
$25 an hour to operate, while a helicopter
may cost hundreds. Small UASs also have
60 | AOPA PILOT April 2015

AOPA has two main goals in its
advocacy on the integration of
unmanned aircraft systems into the
National Airspace System: preserving safety and protecting access for
general aviation pilots.
With rapid advancements of UAS
technologies, AOPA recognized early
that clear rules were needed
to ensure that the introduction of
unmanned aircraft wouldn't endanger people or require dedicated
airspace that shuts out pilots. The
association formally asked the FAA
in 2004 to task an advisory committee with developing consensus
standards for unmanned aircraft that
weigh 55 pounds or less. The FAA
established the committee; AOPA
served on it, helping to provide
recommendations; and the FAA
accepted the consensus standards
in 2007 and proposed rules for small
UAS in February 2015.
AOPA maintains that in general,
unmanned aircraft should be appropriately maintained and registered,
be flown by a certificated pilot, and
be flown in compliance with current operating rules and airspace
requirements. The proposed rule for
small, commercial unmanned aircraft
would address many of AOPA's
concerns by requiring them to "see
and avoid" other aircraft and setting
certification requirements for UAS
operators. It also would require small
unmanned aircraft flown for other
than recreational purposes to obtain
an FAA registration and display an N
number; operators would be required
to conduct a preflight safety inspection before each flight. The FAA is
seeking input on whether to create
a subset of rules for aircraft weighing 4.4 pounds or less. The proposed
regulations are open for comment
through April 24.
The publishing of proposed rules
is welcome progress for an industry
that has been frustrated by the pace
of rulemaking. An Inspector General
audit found that the FAA was behind
schedule in its attempt to meet Congress's 2015 deadline for integrating
these systems into U.S. airspace, and
called into question when and if full
integration of unmanned aircraft into
the National Airspace System will
occur. That's caused uncertainty for
existing airspace users, as well as for
an industry poised to take off.
"I would say there's very few
industries that want to be regulated," Michael Toscano, former
president and CEO of AUVSI.
"We're one of them."
-SSD

the benefit of producing less downwash
and less noise. Schuster added that his
aircraft's light weight makes them safer
in the filming environment.
Proving that Vortex Aerial's aircraft
would operate with an equivalent level of
safety to existing rules-a current requirement for the FAA's case-by-case approvals
of commercial UAS operations-took about
four years and involved a redesign of the
company's aircraft, said Schuster. The
terms of the exemption include a number
of operating limitations, including controlling access to the shooting site perimeter
and having an operator with at least a private pilot certificate.
Obtaining approval to operate
unmanned aircraft in the United States
for commercial purposes hasn't been easy.
In fact, the FAA didn't authorize the first
commercial UAS operations over land until
July 2014, and that was for a remote area
of the Arctic. So why does it seem like an
unmanned aircraft makes the news weekly
for filming cityscapes or photographing weddings and real estate? According
to the FAA, which draws a hard line
between "model aircraft" flown by hobbyists and "unmanned aircraft systems"
flown for profit, these commercial operations are prohibited without the agency's
authorization.
For pilot, model aircraft hobbyist, and
Atlanta Hobby President Cliff Whitney,
that just doesn't make sense. Hobbyists
have long flown safely under a few simple
guidelines from the FAA and with support
from the Academy of Model Aeronautics
(which, he pointed out, predates the FAA).
As model aircraft have gotten easier and
safer to fly, he said, more people have
begun to participate in the hobby. His small
company, which sells aircraft such as the
popular DJI Phantom quadcopter, added
22 people in 2014 and he was looking for
five to 10 more, he said.
Photographers, in particular, have
recognized the utility of the systems and
are snapping up low-cost, lightweight
multirotor helicopters, many customized with gimbals for smooth video
and other photography-specific accessories. Whitney said his most popular
AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - April 2015

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