The Current State of Drones, Laws, Regulations, Fear and Loathing.

Washington, DC--it's a painfully slow process for politicians and FAA bureaucrats to accept the need, legitimacy and relative safety of those little civilian drones. 

There was the initial hysteria of passenger jets crashing, mass privacy invasion because of those little drones.  The panic reaction was bolstered with thousands mistaken or deliberately false reports of sightings claiming drone misbehavior.  

Thankfully as the number of drones in civilian hands increased by leaps and bounds, the bogus reports quietly subsided considerably. 

Very recently progress has been made in allowing the commercial use of drones under a somewhat loosened set of rules and guidelines.  Along with the more realistic drone rules the FAA created the Part 107 licensing exemption with a written test for commercial drone pilots.  

They have allowed for considerable expansion of drone use in urban areas for news gathering, filmmaking, property inspection, marketing and photography.  

The FAA still must give a bit on night flights, first person view and use over highways and people. Slowly that too is happening.

The same is needed for low altitude flights below 150 feet near, but not adjacent to airports.  Inspecting a roof of a building with a drone that's a half mile from an airport from 30 feet above should not require anything more than simple caution. 

We've still not seen a single fatality, serious injury or property damage caused by a drone.  This despite nearly four million of them in the hands of all manner of men, women and children. 

Drones are a natural tool for news gathering purposes. Their excellent broadcast quality cameras, safe low altitude flight and minimal expense will save countless jobs in America's newsrooms.  

For news gathering drones are substantially preferable to helicopters in all but those high speed police chases.  The liability issues of drone use is also minuscule compared to that of helicopters. 

Still safety is a real concern along with the upscale price of drones that ultimately keeps their owners cautious. None of them want to see their precious drones damaged or lost.  

Finally superior drone video has become slowly integrated in our nation's TV newscasts.   There is virtually little noise and no pollution emitted from these marvelous little machines.

Hopefully police will begin to use them to document traffic accidents saving time and money.  Drones can cut the time busy streets are obstructed for traffic investigations by two-thirds.  

The Netherlands has been using them to deliver defibrillators to save the lives of heart attack victims.  Drones are excellent tools for use in critical missing persons cases, search and rescue. The benefits of our civilian drones make for a better and bright future.  

News Helicopters, Crashes and Costs Vex Television Executives! Camera Drones are the Answer!

 courtesy of AZ Republic 

Phoenix, AZ--It was in July of 2007 when cops were chasing a fleeing pickup truck through the streets of Phoenix.  Also in pursuit were two TV news choppers that were covering this breaking story.

Soon the story of the day changed dramatically and tragically as the two news helicopters somehow collided in midair.  Two veteran pilots and gifted photojournalists that I knew personnaly were killed. 

The financial and personal damages of that event were beyond catastrophic and heartbreaking.   

Since 1960, there were 91 deaths and scores of serious injuries directly related to News helicopters alone. 

Another TV news pilot/reporter I once knew was Karen Key.  She was a young and very attractive lady that gained quite a following in Phoenix.  One day she was arrested by Phoenix police for DUI.  Quickly her news director unceremoniously sent her packing.  Some of her fans thought she deserved better treatment.

Key quickly was hired by another TV news organization in Denver.  In December of 1982 Key was flying to the scene of a light plane crash in Larkspur when the unthinkable happened.  Key and her mechanic were killed in a crash.  The local medical examiner revealed that Key was impaired by alcohol.

Today technology has delivered to us the camera drone.  You can hardly see a film or commercial anymore that was not partially filmed by a camera drone. They add a whole new depth and view of everything.

There are some 7,000 helicopters operating throughout the world.  Highly trained men and women pilot them however when they crash lives and property are lost.

As for the Multi-rotor camera drones there are nearly two million of them out there.  They are in the hands of unregulated civilians including teenagers. To date there has not been a single fatality or serious injury involving a multi-rotor camera drone. That’s despite all the news stories suggesting they could be dangerous.

News organizations worldwide have been decimated financially as their readers and views have chosen Internet providers for their news content. 

Helicopters cost between $1,500 and $2,000 an hour to operate and are the single largest newsroom cost.   The liability issues are yet another factor.

A professional grade, multi-rotor drone with a sophisticated 4K camera and livestreaming capability will cost between $9,000 and $15,000.  There are no fuel costs because rechargeable batteries power them. 

They can be operated with a single pilot doubling as the photographer or with a second person operating the camera with a second controller. 

There is a learning curve for operating the drones and cameras beyond what those selling these things would suggest however it’s not that difficult to safely master.

When drones collide it’s always just another day but for the cost of repairs.  Nobody dies or is crippled.  That’s not to say something tragic could never happen. That’s already been proven to be unlikely.

The FAA has taken on regulation of drones with unprecedented prior restraint tactics.  They have never done that before as they have always created conventional aircraft regulations in the blood of these killed or injured.

Worldwide news directors and editors have no choice here.  Either they embrace the drone technology or lose.  Drones are safe, effective and inexpensive.  The quality of drone video is no less than stunning. 

At this time the drone is not suited to replace every helicopter use in news.  They are not suitable for all but the end or a few glimpses of car chases. They move slower but they can get so much closer to newsworthy events than helicopters.

As for me, the news directors need to know I want to be a drone journalist.  I’d add this to my many years freelancing as an investigative TV news producer.  Whoever pays me can have my services.

The licensing issue right now is in the form of an FAA waiver certificate and operating under their conditions.  Within two to three years there will be some formal licensing at least for drones weighing more than four and a half pounds.

The first wave of drone journalists will be needed to teach those later joining the ranks.

Here is a link to the News helicopter accidents within the USA. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_news_aircraft_accidents_and_incidents

I shot the story below with zero assistance from anyone.  I used my prosumer video gear on the ground and a $1,500 Phantom 2 drone with a GoPro camera.  I edited this on a small Macbook Pro with Final Cut-X software.

New Turf War Escalating, Camera Drone Pilots vs. Traditional Helicopter Pilots!

Los Angeles, CA—Technology has brought us unmanned, remote controlled aircraft.  These things have been around for decades. Expectedly they have been engineered for surveillance and combat by military contractors.

More recently GPS advances and really great and diminutive cameras such as the GoPro has brought us an affordable civilian drone that has been thrilling photographers such as me.

The vast majority of the civilian camera drones are weighing in at between one and three pounds and can be safely operated from as much as a mile away.  They can capture stunning images at much lower altitudes than helicopters without the risk of death and destruction. 

There are larger and more sophisticated drones that handle the bigger cameras used by the film industry and require very solid piloting skills.  

One thing for sure civilian drone operators don’t want their devices endangered or the subject of adverse police scrutiny. 

I have two camera drones my least expensive is worth $1,000.00 and my better one cost me $2000.00.  Needless to say I’d be very unhappy if it were destroyed or confiscated by authorities. 

The Turf War has begun!

Police and TV news helicopter pilot’s careers are suddenly in serious jeopardy because of the drone technology.  They are antagonistic and understandably hostile to this drone technology. 

Every year in America several helicopters crash, lives are lost along with millions in property damage.  The reason is most often pilot error.   The civilian multi-rotor camera drones have never been involved in a single death or remarkable injury.  

The civilian drones can operate in much tighter spaces making them more versatile in search and rescue operations at least in regards to finding people, pets and property.  Of course the little drones cannot evacuate people for medical trauma or from precarious mountainsides. 

The civilian drones cannot cope with police car chases like helicopters but can provide excellent images of crime, accident, fire and other disaster scenes for TV news. 

The L.A. Department of Water and Power is demanding two new helicopters to inspect their assets, equipment and property.  Let me be the first one to say that they can now get by with only one!  They simply need a qualified camera drone operator that would cost a tiny percentage of the price of a second helicopter.  It may be possible to jettison the second helicopter with a small fleet of drones! 

TV news operations can save millions and avoid the risk of deadly crashes altogether! 

The drones will have causalities for sure.  They are the helicopter crews and the maintenance support staff will be looking for work.

As for the future of manned helicopters that is in doubt two because technology may create the accident proof drone helicopter.  This may not be far away.

One last thing, today’s big drone story in New York is the arrest of to camera drone pilots for criminal endangerment.   

I call bullshit on the helicopter cop’s claims that the drones were aggressively chasing them.  I guess the cops overlooked that the two drones have the ultimate back boxes onboard!  They have the SD Ram cards with a full visual record of the flights involved. 

The police should have their own unedited video and examination of the three combined videos should reveal the unvarnished truth. 

In any event I hope that civilian drone photographers are not subjected to violation of their civil rights under color of law in order to score points in a turf war. 

The biggest motivating factor for safe and law abiding operation of the new civilian camera drones is the value of the devices and cameras.  Existing law covers any issues of dangerous or criminal mischief. 

Civilian drones have their new place in the sky cut out for them.  The benefits far outweigh any potential liabilities. 

The issue of licensing for drone pilots is under review and discussion and my sources are telling me that drones weighing more than 55 pounds will be targeted for regulation.  The multi-rotor pilots like me with small devices will be free from special attention from the FAA.

State and local legislative bodies will be looking to create all manner of bans and new laws.  Let’s hope they all think about the safety and benefits before they act. 

I expect to see thousands of new jobs for small drone photographers in news, movie making, farming, real estate, insurance adjusting and many other industries.