UAVs

     Since becoming much cheaper and more open to the average person unmanned aerial vehicles have become increasingly more popular in the business industry. In addition to delivering packages drones might possibly be delivering food or even beer to customers around the US. One company, Darwin Aerospace, has built a UAV called the Burrito Bomber that uses GPS from the customer’s phone, drops off their meal, and then flies itself back home. Mark Zuckerberg has plans to use drones to deliver basic Internet access across the world with Internet.org. “Aquila”, a solar powered drone, will be able to fly for three months at a time without landing. The drone will avoid weather and other aircraft by operating between 60,000ft and 90,000ft. Facebook will be the first company with drones flying at that altitude and has a team working with policymakers to set guidelines for the project. (Hern, 2015) Federal and state governments have been using drones for a while to aide in search-and-rescue missions where sending in a pilot would be too dangerous. Another application of drones is for use in scientific research. David Bird, a professor of wildlife biology at McGill University, uses a drone to collect data on the number of polar bears and birds in the area. These are just some of the current uses of drones. (Dussault, 2014)

The FAA was tasked by Congress to come up with a plan to integrate UAVs into US airspace back in 2012 Since the FAA has missed its deadline for creating drone regulations operators are stuck in a  regulatory gray zone until spring. Many operators are trying to get a Section 333 exemption that lets them fly before regulations are put into place. The Section 333 Exemption will be given on a case by case basis and will allow certain unmanned aircraft to perform commercial operations. As of 9/30/2015 1,742 petitions have been granted and 399 have been closed. (Section, 2015)

Some proposed regulations are:

•          Drones used by businesses must be under 55lbs
•          Operator must have a visual on the vehicle
•          Unmanned aircraft have to be flown during daylight hours

The full Notice of Proposed Rulemaking can be found here.

     I think that it is inevitable that UAVs will be a large part of our airspace in the near future. As of now there is already great potential on so many professions because drones are light weight, easy to fly, cheaper than manned aircraft, and are less liability. It will be up to the FAA, private citizens, and commercial businesses to agree upon a set of regulations and continue to revise those regulations as UAVs continue to advance.

Some problems that will need to be solved are:

•          How will drones be regulated or traced back to the owner?
•          Who is authorized to shoot down a drone?
•          Drones being used on private property
•          Drone use within city limits and around high buildings
•          Operation of drones in highly populated areas
•          Accident liability

Another big problem that many citizens are already having is the use of drones to spy on others. The fear does not only come from the government spying on others but also citizens spying on their neighbors and organizations spying on people. For example some in the agriculture community are concerned about activist groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals using drones to harass farmers. PETA announced that they will use drones to spot poachers and monitor wildlife violations. (Dillard, 2013)

     There has been much debate on the use of drone in the US military strategy. There are many reasons why the government has been putting more reliance on the use of drones:

•          They can fly into heavy fire,
•          Drones don’t have to go through training
•          There is no risk of life being lost

With the increased use of drones many questions have been raised over the ethical use of drone warfare. On the surface drones seem like a good idea because it minimizes the risks of losing our own troops as well as minimizing the emotional effect of family members losing someone due to war. Many believe that new technology combined with less than three million people serving in the military is making Americans more detached from war potentially making it easier to go to war and stay at war longer. The use of drones in future military operations is still up for debate. Some experts believe that we will never get to a time where drones outnumber humans on the battlefield. Others believe that the majority of combat forces won’t be made up of humans. The only thing that is certain is that we are moving towards a military with fewer manned systems and more automated systems.

Currently there are many job postings on websites like Glassdoor and the company General Atomics Aeronautical Systems also has many job opportunities in flight and management. Besides jobs that are currently listed there will be plenty more job openings in the near future. There will be a need for people to manufacture, fly, manage, and repair UAVs in many career fields. The University of North Dakota has had a bachelor's degree course in unmanned aircraft systems since 2008 and reports that most of the first 61 graduates have gone off to work for companies such as Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing. (Rooney, 2014)

 Sources:

Dillard, J. (2013, May 7). Can Activist Groups Use Drones to Spy on Farmers? Retrieved October 5, 2015.

Dussault, J. (2014, March 14). 7 commercial uses for drones - Boston.com. Retrieved October 5, 2015.

Hern, A. (2015, July 30).Facebook launches Aquila solar-powered drone for internet access. Retrieved October5, 2015.

Rooney, B. (2014, November 26). Drone pilot wanted: Starting salary $100,000. Retrieved October 5, 2015.

Section 333. (2015, August 21). Retrieved October 5, 2015.