Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Manned and Unmanned Rotor Craft Mixing

Rotor & Wing Magazine :: Australian Incident Highlights UAV Dangers
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority says the UAV in this incident was most likely a first person view UAV, with a video fixed inside or outside the UAV allowing the operator to fly it remotely whilst looking through a pair of goggles or at a screen. CASA says these UAVs account for more than 90 percent of all complaints received about UAVs. CASA points out that UAVs are restricted to operations below 400 feet AGL unless the operator has been granted approval.

Avionics Magazine :: FAA Mulls Film, TV Commercial UAS Applications

Aviation Today :: Drone Dread

Two parts of the Roadmap seem quite sensible and are unlikely to change: a safe harbor at low altitudes for small drones that fly within sight of their operators – otherwise known as “microdrones” – and more demanding requirements for larger drones that rub shoulders with manned aircraft. We call these “machodrones.” The machodrones, like manned aircraft after 2020, will have to be equipped with automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) to tell everyone their position, altitude, speed, and direction of flight at least once every second. The drones themselves will have to have airworthiness certificates, and their operators – we call them DRoneOPerators or “DROPs,” will have to be certified under requirements resembling present pilot standards and processes.
The safe harbor for microdrones is not too different from that suggested by FAA for remotely controlled model aircraft: below 400 feet, subject to a weight limitation. They will have to stay near their operators and stay away from airports.

No comments: