1) Previously, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) were used mostly by the military for reconnaissance work. The military paved the way for civilians to have their own surveillance UAV’s on a much smaller scale with lower costs for the equipment and maintenance. Currently, Amazon Prime Air (online store) is adopting the practice of using drones, a typed of UAV, to deliver merchandise. “We're excited about Prime Air — a future delivery system from Amazon designed to safely get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using small unmanned aerial vehicles, also called drones” (Amazon.com, Inc., 2016). UAV’s are being used for social media and marketing videos as a way to record events from different vantage points. Some researchers are using them for ground mapping and observation as well. "Drones are proving to be powerful new tools to archaeologists for documenting excavation, mapping landscapes and identifying buried features…”(Drones 2016). In Superbowl 50, “The Federal Aviation Administration has banned the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) within a 32-mile radius of the stadium on game day” (Foltin 2016). The “No Drone Zone” (Foltin 2016) were setup to restrict drones from causing distractions in the arena, safety concerns or from getting footage of the game with unauthorized cameras.
2) Since the NAS is responsible for implementing new systems for aviation, I see the mixing of UAV’s as a possibility due to their popularity and the variety of applications for personal and business uses. These UAV’s have the capability of gaining access to locations that are more remote. The cost of a UAV requires less manning, equipment and operational costs than traditional options. For example, in a search and rescue scenario, a UAV could be used to find lost hikers. Typically in this situation a helicopter would be used to quickly access the location; requiring a pilot, crew, fuel, maintenance and other operational costs that would add up quickly. While a UAV has a remote operator and the unit may run on a battery, resulting in a more efficient and cost effective method and less manning.
The high demand of UAV’s will cause an increase of these in the sky, clogging certain altitudes and posing new risks to general aviation. With the increase of UAVs come with a new set of regulations and operating procedures. Many questions come to mind. Will the UAV’s have operational limitations? This would be helpful to determine what other regulations would be developed. If there is not an altitude restriction or operating limitations, I wonder if they will be required to have a transponder or ADSB system. Aircraft operators require extensive training and certifications for different aircraft, but will UAV operators be required to get training, certifications or licenses?
Will insurance be required to cover property damage in the case of accidents or collisions with other aircraft. If UAV’s are flown into the approach of an airport and a collision occurs with an aircraft, who is held liable for the accident and how would this be documented or traced back to the UAV? Would there be a registration system in place to track the UAV’s with an equivalent tail number?
I see UAV’s as accountability issue where the number of UAV’s will rapidly increase without enough regulations in place to enforce protocol. I also see UAV’s being used for inappropriate recreational activity, invading of privacy or trespassing of private property.
3) Not only has the military strategy changed but causalities have decreased as well. The military has been able to send virtual “eyes” to see their threat instead of risking a highly trained soldier to do the same job. The UAV is very stealthy as compared to a large aircraft which would be easily detectable on radar and has a noise footprint. The use of UAV has allowed the military to switch from an operation based control site to a remote site where the UAV could be hand transported. The UAV reduces the amount of crew, man hours and equipment needed per mission. If an aircraft was used for a similar mission, the loss of crew and a multi-million dollar aircraft has a huge potential for loss compared to the minimal operational costs for a UAV for the same mission. The use of UAV is more ethical because military crew are not thrown intentionally into dangerous situations.
https://www.ga-careers.com/job/-/-/499/1334326?apstr=%26codes%3DIIND&ss=paid
References
Amazon Prime Air. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2016, from http://www.amazon.com/b?node=8037720011
Drones for research: Archaeologist explains UAV use at Fifa. (2016, February 14). Retrieved February 14, 2016, from http://phys.org/news/2016-02-drones-archaeologist-uav-fifa.html
Foltin, L. (2016, February 5). Drone-free zone: Don't fly your UAVs anywhere near the Super Bowl. Retrieved February 14, 2016, from http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/super-bowl-50-no-drones-prohibited-uavs-020516
2) Since the NAS is responsible for implementing new systems for aviation, I see the mixing of UAV’s as a possibility due to their popularity and the variety of applications for personal and business uses. These UAV’s have the capability of gaining access to locations that are more remote. The cost of a UAV requires less manning, equipment and operational costs than traditional options. For example, in a search and rescue scenario, a UAV could be used to find lost hikers. Typically in this situation a helicopter would be used to quickly access the location; requiring a pilot, crew, fuel, maintenance and other operational costs that would add up quickly. While a UAV has a remote operator and the unit may run on a battery, resulting in a more efficient and cost effective method and less manning.
The high demand of UAV’s will cause an increase of these in the sky, clogging certain altitudes and posing new risks to general aviation. With the increase of UAVs come with a new set of regulations and operating procedures. Many questions come to mind. Will the UAV’s have operational limitations? This would be helpful to determine what other regulations would be developed. If there is not an altitude restriction or operating limitations, I wonder if they will be required to have a transponder or ADSB system. Aircraft operators require extensive training and certifications for different aircraft, but will UAV operators be required to get training, certifications or licenses?
Will insurance be required to cover property damage in the case of accidents or collisions with other aircraft. If UAV’s are flown into the approach of an airport and a collision occurs with an aircraft, who is held liable for the accident and how would this be documented or traced back to the UAV? Would there be a registration system in place to track the UAV’s with an equivalent tail number?
I see UAV’s as accountability issue where the number of UAV’s will rapidly increase without enough regulations in place to enforce protocol. I also see UAV’s being used for inappropriate recreational activity, invading of privacy or trespassing of private property.
3) Not only has the military strategy changed but causalities have decreased as well. The military has been able to send virtual “eyes” to see their threat instead of risking a highly trained soldier to do the same job. The UAV is very stealthy as compared to a large aircraft which would be easily detectable on radar and has a noise footprint. The use of UAV has allowed the military to switch from an operation based control site to a remote site where the UAV could be hand transported. The UAV reduces the amount of crew, man hours and equipment needed per mission. If an aircraft was used for a similar mission, the loss of crew and a multi-million dollar aircraft has a huge potential for loss compared to the minimal operational costs for a UAV for the same mission. The use of UAV is more ethical because military crew are not thrown intentionally into dangerous situations.
https://www.ga-careers.com/job/-/-/499/1334326?apstr=%26codes%3DIIND&ss=paid
References
Amazon Prime Air. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2016, from http://www.amazon.com/b?node=8037720011
Drones for research: Archaeologist explains UAV use at Fifa. (2016, February 14). Retrieved February 14, 2016, from http://phys.org/news/2016-02-drones-archaeologist-uav-fifa.html
Foltin, L. (2016, February 5). Drone-free zone: Don't fly your UAVs anywhere near the Super Bowl. Retrieved February 14, 2016, from http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/super-bowl-50-no-drones-prohibited-uavs-020516
