Tag Archives: ASTM

UAV065 UAS Regulatory and Legal Developments

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NBAA 2014 Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Regulatory and Legal DevelopmentsWe review the Unmanned Aircraft Systems:  Regulatory and Legal Developments panel discussion at the NBAA 2014 conference.

NBAA2014 – BUSINESS AVIATION CONVENTION & EXHIBITION

At the NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Florida on October 21, 2014, a panel discussion was held titled, “Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Regulatory and Legal Developments.”

The Panel was moderated by Marc Warren of Crowell & Moring LLP. Panel members were: Dean Griffith, FAA; Mario Mairena, AUVSI; Dave Hamrick, MITRE Corporation; and Ted Wierzbanowiski, ASTM standards for sUAS.

In this episode, we bring you selected clips from the first half of the panel discussion.

Topics include:

  • Some early history of FAA and ASTM activity.
  • The process for providing the FAA with sUAS recommendations.
  • The NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) for sUAS that the FAA intends to issue by the end of 2014.
  • RF spectrum allocation
  • The FAA view of sUAS as aircraft and the plan they have.
  • Challenges faced by the FAA to meet the Congressional mandates.
  • Next steps the FAA intends to take.
  • The COAs issued by the FAA.
  • Recreational (hobbyist) vs. commercial use.
  • How UAS technology might flow down to manned aviation, particularly General Aviation.

Other topics discussed by the panel that we’ll cover in the future::

  • If sUAS flyers should have a pilot’s license.
  • Educating UAS pilots.
  • Exemptions under Section 333 as a bridging authority.
  • Social risks with UAS, like privacy.
  • States and local governments enacting anti-UAS laws.
  • Is US competitiveness suffering?
  • What does the future of UAS (of all sizes) look like?
  • Are unmanned commercial passenger or cargo flights in the future?
  • Where did the 55 pound line come from?

Credit

We are grateful to Carl Valeri who attended the Convention and recorded the panel discussion for us. Find Carl at the Aviation Careers podcast and the Stuck Mic AvCast.

 

UAV006 Spy on the Chicken

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PUMA AE beach launch

PUMA AE beach launch. Courtesy AeroVironment, Inc.

This Episode:

The Reaper is turned into a Jammer, drones are spying on chickens in Australia, FAA rules for small UAS’s delayed again, UAV privacy questions remain, a new UAS Test Center in the UK, monitoring wildlife with a PUMA and the weather with a Global Hawk, FEMA shuts down Colorado UAV flights, and more multi-rotor’s come down in crowds.

The News:

Jamming Pod Demonstrated on MQ-9 Reaper UAV

General Atomics has fitted a Northrop Grumman jamming pod to an MQ-9 Reaper. The test flight occurred back in April during a U.S. Marine Corps weapons and tactics instructor (WTI) course, but has only recently been made public. Planned for the October WTI course is a demonstration with EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare (EW) jets and smaller unmanned aircraft.

Animal Liberation activists launch spy drone to test free-range claims

Australian activists are concerned that some large free-range chicken farms are not in fact free-range. So for $17,000 they purchased a hexacopter, fitted it with an HD video camera, and flew it over the farms to document their claims. The group says this does not violate trespass laws.

First Commercial UAS Flight Due; Small UAS Rule Delayed

An Insitu ScanEagle was expected to make the first commercial flight of an unmanned aircraft on September 11, under a restricted category type certification the FAA awarded in July. ConocoPhillips was to launch the ScanEagle from a research vessel in the Arctic Ocean west of Alaska to monitor whale migrations and ice flows.

The FAA’s release of a Notice of Proposed RuleMaking (NPRM) which would govern the operation of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) weighing up to 55 pounds has been delayed until early in 2014.

UAV Operations in National Air Space Advance as Privacy Fight Heats Up

The standards being developed for sUAS over: UAV design, including command and control systems, batteries, production, quality assurance, maintenance, and continued airworthiness, the aircraft flight manual, and operations over populated areas.

ASTM International developed the initial standards for the FAA Aviation Rulemaking Committee that was chartered in 2008. That feeds the NPRM process which includes a mechanism for public comment.

The ASTM standards committee for large UAS was unable to make enough progress, so it’s mission was changed to minimum operational performance standards (or MOPS) for detect-and-avoid equipment.

Unlike the slow rule-making progress for commercial UAS, Government agencies (like law enforcement and public safety) can move quickly as a result of the March MOU between the FAA and the Department of Justice.

UK Inaugurates National UAS Test Center

Two UK airports (West Wales Airport and Newquay Cornwall Airport) have launched a “National Aeronautical Center” (NAC) to develop, test and demonstrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), both commercial and military.

More drones coming Saturday in NOAA tests

NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations is testing the PUMA UAS in the Florida Keys to monitor wildlife without disturbing them.

 

NASA Global Hawk

A NASA Global Hawk undergoes systems testing while parked on the ramp at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center on the edge of Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in preparation for participation in NASA’s Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes, or GRIP, hurricane mission.

Spy Drones Turning Up New Data About Hurricanes And Weather and NASA to Investigate Tropical Storm Humberto: Atlantic’s Second “Zombie Tropical Storm”

NASA is flying two Global Hawks from Wallops Island over Hurricanes under the five-year HS3 (Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel) Mission.

Falcon UAV Supports Colorado Flooding Until Grounded by FEMA

The Falcon UAV was providing valuable aerial imagery of the recent tragic Colorado floods. However, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) has arrived with conventional manned aircraft and the Falcon was ordered to stand down.

Multirotor Crashes into Crowd in Spain and Pirate Party Crashes Spy Drone in Front of German Chancellor Angela Merkel

A hexacopter comes down into a packed crowd in Spain, allegedly injuring several people. Meanwhile, in Dresden, Germany at a political party campaign rally, another copter came down in front of the podium.