Los Angeles, CA—I just spent a
long time on the telephone with an FAA Aviation Safety Inspector. I’m not going to name him. He was knowledgeable and helpful under the
circumstances.
My question involved the use
of a somewhat small multi-rotor drone for photography and videography. Specifically, I wanted an exemption
certificate for the use of a drone to obtain aerial images of accident, crime
scenes, aerial damage surveys of structures for insurance adjusting and
electronic newsgathering (ENG).
Just last Sunday the FAA
issued a draft copy of their intended drone regulations. After a public comment period as much as
three years will pass before a final regulation is published.
The rub here is that the drone
technology is changing at lighting speed and whatever they promulgate will
already be outdated and stale by the time any rule is adopted.
The inspector I spoke with was
an obviously bright fellow. He among other things investigates allegations
of unauthorized commercial use of or the careless or reckless operation of
drones.
He also explained to me just
how to apply for a drone exemption certificate for my commercial needs. He then cited verbatim the existing FAA drone
safety guidelines.
The guidelines themselves are
somewhat problematic. They are incredibly
vague and lack adequate descriptions of prohibited activity. However the current FAA prohibition against
commercial use of drones is utterly unambiguous.
Because of incredibly
ignorant news media stories the public seems to think these little camera
drones are somehow illegal. Every time
people notice a drone up in the air they call 911. Police have to respond and drone enforcement
is not currently taught in police academies.
The cops and prosecutors are
confused along with those people that make the various local and state laws.
Lets start with the local
lawmakers. For the most part they are
ignorant of the fact that the nation’s airspace is not theirs to regulate! Federal law preempts them.
Okay, you may as why can’t
some state like Arizona pass a law governing drones in our airspace? It’s really quite simple. If state and local lawmakers had that power
there would be total chaos in the skies!
For example they would try and make
laws that would allow them to arrest pilots for making too much noise near
airports. At one time the states that
precluded alcohol sales or at least barring sales on Sundays actually tried to
enforce their laws against the airlines.
How could pilots and
navigators possibly keep up with the laws of every state, city or hamlet they
fly over?
Can you imagine cops serving
search warrants on airlines to obtain the names of flight crews that may have
violated those local regulations?
Imagine seeing your uniformed pilots and flight attendants in handcuffs at
morning criminal court calls after spending the night in jail!
The FAA is the sole authority
for our airspace. Local governments can
only control where airports are built or their own governmental use of
aircraft.
Our local police, media and
lawmakers simply don’t know or understand aviation laws. They have enough responsibility without
trying to control or determine the flight altitude of some 12 year-old kid’s
camera drone.
Okay let’s begin with the
Federal guidelines overregulation of Unmanned Vehicle Vehicles (UAV) or what we call, drones.
The FAA lumped together all
UAVs under 55 pounds. That
includes model rockets, fixed wing planes, helicopters and of course the new
and suddenly wildly popular multi-rotor camera drones.
Multi-rotor drones are
radically different than the rest. They're somewhat
slow moving and are not too difficult to operate. Considering there are well over a million of
them in civilian hands one undeniable fact is apparent. There has never been a multi-rotor drone
accident that has taken a life, caused a serious injury or any significant
property damage.
When you compare that with
the 7000 helicopters in use world wide use there is no similarity. Over the years, I’ve sadly I’ve lost friends
that were in epic helicopter crashes.
The last of which was the collision of two TV news-choppers over Phoenix,
AZ three years ago that killed four friends.
All FAA existing regulations
for conventional manned aircraft were actually written in blood! Every rule has a historical tragic accident
behind it! The FAA exists for airspace
safety and for the most part they’ve done a pretty good job.
Today the USA and our way of
life have changed because of the political Left Wing’s control over the nation.
The Left loves big government and they never met a commerce obstructing law
they didn’t just love.
Those on the Left believe there
must be some sort of license issued before you can clip your own toenails!
Suddenly with the emerging
drone technology the FAA has gone to the prior restraint mode rather than
regulating based on actual accidents.
I call this the Chicken
Little mode where regulations are made to preclude even the most remote
possibility of mishaps.
Nothing is a better example
overregulation than the FAA’s total ban on using a drone for compensation. Wow, halting commerce? How un-American is that?
If there was a reasonable safety
issue demonstrated by a death, serious injury or significant property damage
involving the multi-rotor drones I could understand, but there’s not!
I must cite our First
Amendment right to create, gather news, publish and broadcast. Here the prior restraint activities of the
FAA are nothing short of tyrannical!
The new proposed rules of the
FAA over commercial UAS seem on their face seem somewhat workable. Anything is better than a total prohibition.
I personally intend to be
licensed once the new regulations are in place.
In the meantime I’m in the process of applying for an FAA drone use exemption
certificate.
My unanswered questions still
remain. Just what is careless or
reckless aircraft regulation? Some would consider simply flying any drone
reckless. Opinions here are both wide
and varied even among drone users!
How near is too near to be to
an occupied sports stadium? Is flying over the heads of people the same as
simply being able to view people from above?
People including my fellow drone pilots all have different ideas and
answers.
Have we somehow failed to notice that conventional aircraft fly over our homes and heads everyday?
The FAA inspector I spoke
with could not answer those important questions. He simply told me that if there’s a complaint
he’d report the known facts or allegations to them and the FAA would make a final
determination on whether anything deserved sanctions.
To me this is FAA vs. Drone
situation merely setting up a recipe for unnecessary conflict and endless
litigation.
My goal is to see the stellar
safety record of the multi-rotor devices continue through the responsible use
of this exciting and cutting edge technology.
In the long run drones will save lives, such as the 100 or so antenna tower inspectors that fall to their deaths
ever year.
There will be fewer manned
helicopters crashing because of the tiny by comparison drones are being used
instead.
The world’s food and fuel
supply will be better- managed and protected by inexpensive UAV operators.
Drone delivery of emergency
medicines, defibrillation devices will also be saving lives along with drone
use in search and rescue missions.
Drones are here to stay and
Americans need their benefit.
