The Current Status of UAVs

The Current Status of UAVs

UAVs have begun to grow in popularity in the past few years. Both in the military and commercially. Drones have begun being used to help first responders, help with fighting fires, with police operations, in the film industry, and in many other fields. As drones advance we will continue to see them be adapted to what could be a countless number of fields. They allow us to go, see, and do things that would be much more difficult without their help. Drones are an invaluable asset in todays society. But they do have some limitations namely batterie life. Drones are regulated by the FAA, and as such must meet certain requirements to be used in legally. For commercial drone operations some of the main points are that they must weigh less than 55 lbs, are VLOS (Visual line-of sight) only, have a maximum ground speed of 100 mph, and have a maximum altitude of 400 ft AGL (Above ground level) according to the FAA (FAA sUAS Part 107: The small UAS Rule). Down below I will list the link for those interested, it dose a good job at simplifying the rule.  Not only are drones taking off in the United States but in other countries as well. Europe has begun using them for security and to help first responders as well. Other counties have followed suit as of currently and have put in place their own regulations.

When It comes to drones being introduced into National Air Space (NAS) I don’t think this would be a promising idea. I understand that with time and more advanced technology drones could become more useful but with how our system is set up I believe it would too much pressure on ATC and pilots. I know some pilots that are rightfully concerned about drones being flown to close to close to airports especially in more traffic heavy cities. Now it is against all drone regulations to fly their drones within the proximity of airports with how easy it is to acquire drones in today’s economy it would not surprise me if someone not educated enough decided to go to Walmart or Costco and get them self a drone and decide to take some “cool” video or photos of aircraft at the airport.

Switching gears, a bit drones in the military have been around for quite a while now. These drones started off being used for surveillance. They helped troops on the ground gather intelligence for upcoming operations. Soon after they were used for strike missions. An article by Stewart Smith dose a respectable job stating how the US military views drone usage “Anytime a drone can be used to protect the lives of the military men and women they will be armed with live video remote communications to ground troops, essential gear, or weapons” (Stewart Smith 2017).

Regarding UAV jobs I was surprised to find quite a few. All I did was type in UAV jobs into google. The one that stuck out to me the most was add for Drone operator and safety observers for the Oasis USA corporation. I will attach the link below.

Links

https://www.google.com/search?q=UAV+jobs&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS721US721&oq=UAV+jobs&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1021j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ibp=htl;jobs#fpstate=tldetail&htidocid=f8bFp-8BbB65oDPlAAAAAA%3D%3D&htivrt=jobs

https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/faa-uas-part107-flyer.pdf

References

 Unmanned Aircraft Systems . (n.d.). FAA sUAS PART 107: THE SMALL UAS RULE. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/faa-uas-part107-flyer.pdf

Smith, S. (2018, January 10). Tactical and Practical Uses for Drones. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from https://www.thebalance.com/military-and-civilian-drone-use-4121099

Should Cargo Carriers Be Exempt from Flight/Duty Changes?

After the Colgan Air accident in 2009 the FAA released new regulations regarding flight and duty requirements. These new regulations changed not only the requirements for student pilots (250 hours to 1500 hours) it also changed the requirements. According to an article put out by Sarina Huston, the new rule does not differentiate from domestic, international, and unscheduled flights. Instead these rules apply to all involved Pilots. And now pilots must now sign a document before a flight stating that they are fit for duty while before they did not (Houston 2017). Before reserve pilots had to be given a 24-hour rest during a 7-day week. While now reserve pilots must have a rest period of at least 10 hours (Houston 2017). I kind of agree with this change. While it probably meant rewriting a few schedules. It allows pilots to have better rest opportunities between flights. Allowing for better rested flight crews. The old rule required active pilots to have at least 9 hours (this could be reduced to 8). While the new rule changed that to 10 hours with the opportunity for 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep (Huston 2017). This is a welcome change in my opinion. This forced pilots and companies to set up better lodging for flight crews away from home. Instead of having them sleep or rest at the FBO. What is also required in the flight and duty requirements is the development of a Fatigue Risk Management plan. This plan according to (FAA part 117,119,121 flight crew member duty and rest requirements) states that this Fatigue Risk Management plan must have three parts, and address fatigue related education and training.

 From what I was able to find the flight and duty requirements for cargo carriers have not changed. While the FAA has allowed them to opt in if they wish. According to part 117 final rule most cargo carriers were not factored into this rule because of cost. To which I agree the cost to implement for cargo carriers was too much for most cargo operations. Cargo carriers also work on different schedules than passenger operations. I agree that cargo operations do not need to be apart of this regulation. The cost to these cargo operations would be to much for them to remain profitable. Although I do believe that there should be some changes to their flight and duty time, but it should be tailored to them specifically. Although I might be a tad bias in this. I play to fly cargo so as it affects to myself I would prefer to not have to stick as thoroughly to these new regulations. I am curious to see if they will change them in the future and if so what will they change.     

References

Houston, S. (2017, November 17). Learn About the FAA's Final Rule for Pilot Duty and Rest Requirements. Retrieved February 02, 2018, from https://www.thebalance.com/faa-final-rule-pilot-duty-and-rest-requirements-282927

F. (2012, January 4). Flightcrew member and duty requirements . Retrieved February 1, 2017, from https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/practice_areas/regulations/part117/Part117_General/media/Final%20Flight%20Duty%20Rule.pdf