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