Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Their Future Impact

            Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have become a progressively growing part of aviation in current society. It has developed from a military technology into a recreational civilian toy. Currently, the civilian market is booming with drones and their capabilities. If you walk down the toy isle in any store you are likely to see small drones, and some can even be controlled by a person’s smart phone. Additionally, larger scale drones have been coupled with a GoPro, and have been used to receive remarkable footage. This footage has been used as an alternative for companies to survey their equipment that would otherwise be difficult and dangerous to inspect. UAVs are currently not allowed to be piloted in controlled airspace. However, there currently has been a notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) for Unmanned Aircraft Operations in the National Airspace System (NAS). This document has numerous regulations regarding how civilians can fly their UAVs, and also proposed rules for operating in the NAS.  Some of the overarching rules would include the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), the term the FAA uses for UAVs, must weigh less than 55 lbs. Furthermore, they must operate 5 nautical miles away from an airport with an operating control tower, 3 nautical miles from an uncontrolled airport with an instrument approach procedure, and 2 nautical miles from all other airports, heliports, and seaports. They also must operate at or below 200 feet AGL. Additionally, there are other regulations that are less overarching included in this document for civilian UAS pilots. Lastly, the notice provides a method in which UAS pilots would be able to operate in the NAS with their own set of procedures and responsibilities (FAA, 2015).

            I do see UAVs being integrated into the NAS. With companies such as Amazon implementing deliveries with UAVs, I find it hard to believe that UAV use to expand companies’ capabilities wont become more common. As companies begin to expand their reach utilizing UAVs, it will become necessary to implement them in the NAS to continue to provide proper separation and a safe operating environment. With the rules outlined in the FAA’s NPRM, I believe they have created a good platform in which to start implementing UAVs into the NAS. Some problems that may arise from the implementation of UAVs in the NAS is setting effective requirements to train UAV pilots to know the regulations and safely operate in the NAS. Additionally, when implementing a totally new idea there will be numerous unforeseen issues that can cause accidents or interfere with manned aircraft. Many of our current regulations were written because of fatalities. It is a common saying that the regulations are “written in blood” because of that reason. So with the implementation of an entirely new concept I would imagine there would be fatalities while the nuances of implementing UAVs into the NAS is figured out. Lastly, with the only view of the UAV pilot being the camera, and not having the same training as pilots in traditional aircraft there would be a perception of them being inferior to the traditional pilot. Traditional pilots would view the UAV pilots as unsafe until they have a track record proving otherwise.

            While the technology for UAVs is new, the concept of unmanned aircraft to reduce casualties is a concept seen all the way back to World War I. Over the years the sophistication of the unmanned aircraft have increased, as well as, their effectiveness. “UAVs are divided by class category. During operations where more than one system is available, UAV systems can be task organized and class categories selected to achieve the required flexibility and capability.” (Global Security, 2015). The Department of Defense’s (DOD) categories are UAV-Close Range (UAV-CR) with an operational range of approximately 50 kilometers, UAV-Short Range (UAV-SR) with a flight duration of 8 to 10 hours designed to penetrate into enemy airspace out to a range of 200 kilometers with datalink, and UAV-Endurance (UAV-E) with a minimum of 24 hour coverage and be capable of performing multiple missions simultaneously (Global Security, 2015). These different types of UAVs have allowed for the U.S. military to broaden the scope of missions they task to their drones. Their integration has been efficient by limiting the risk involved with having a human in the cockpit over hostile territory. Additionally, the training to be a UAV pilot is shorter and less expensive than that of training a traditional pilot. However, without having to put a pilot in danger it has created an environment where it’s easier to send a drone in versus a manned aircraft. This may lead to more aggressive strategies. Furthermore, not having actual eyes on the target can create issues and has the potential to increase collateral damage. Although as technology and munitions improve the likelihood of collateral damage decreases with the increased situational awareness of the UAV pilot.

            After a simple Google search for UAV jobs I was able to find UAV coach, http://uavcoach.com/uav-jobs/. UAV coach is a drone enthusiast community. Additionally, it provides a search engine that has 1,605 jobs across the United States for UAV operators, pilots, and engineers. (Alan, 2016)

References

Alan. (2016, February 14). UAV Jobs: Careers in the Drone Industry. Retrieved from http://uavcoach.com/uav-jobs/

FAA. (2015, November 25). Unmanned Aircraft Operations in the National Airspace System (NAS). Retrieved from http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Notice/Notice_UAS_7210.891.pdf

Global Security. (2015, November 4). Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Retrieved from http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/systems/uav-intro.htm