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The Commercial Drone Alliance seeks to repeal Section 336, the FAA Reauthorization ACT of 2018 is introduced, Apple might not like drone flights over its new corporate headquarters, Temple University students build an autonomous drone for campus tours, and the DARPA Gremlins drone swarm program.

UAV News

Commercial Drone Alliance Calls for Section 336 Repeal: ‘Times Have Changed’

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 prohibits the FAA from regulating model aircraft flown as part of a community-based organization. The Commercial Drone Alliance wants Congress to repeal Section 336 of the Act because all drones need “rules of the road.” Lisa Ellman, co-executive director of the Commercial Drone Alliance says the alliance “understand[s] why model aircraft proponents want to remain exempt, as they have been flying safely for decades. However, times have changed, and hobbyists are no longer flying alone.” Gretchen West, co-executive director of the Alliance, says, “Technology has improved. To promote innovation and the budding commercial drone industry, we need to enable the FAA to craft some common-sense rules around remote identification and more.”

FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Sec. 336 (in part):

(a) …the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft, or an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft, if–

(1) the aircraft is flown strictly for hobby or recreational use;

(2) the aircraft is operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines and within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization;

(3) the aircraft is limited to not more than 55 pounds unless otherwise certified through a design, construction, inspection, flight test, and operational safety program administered by a community-based organization;

(4) the aircraft is operated in a manner that does not interfere with and gives way to any manned aircraft; and

(5) when flown within 5 miles of an airport, the operator of the aircraft provides the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower …with prior notice of the operation…

(b) Statutory Construction.–Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the authority of the Administrator to pursue enforcement action against persons operating model aircraft who endanger the safety of the national airspace system.

(c) Model Aircraft Defined.–In this section, the term “model
aircraft” means an unmanned aircraft that is–

(1) capable of sustained flight in the atmosphere;

(2) flown within visual line of sight of the person operating the aircraft; and

(3) flown for hobby or recreational purposes.

Brief Summary of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018

Rupprecht Law provides a good summary of the drone-related items in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 introduced on April 13, 2018, by Representative Shuster. The Act addresses the roles different government levels, user fees, unmanned air traffic management, recreational and commercial drones, registration, and other topics.

Petesch: Drone regulations make investments difficult

Missouri State prohibits the use of UAS systems on campus without specific permission from the university.

Drone Videographer Duncan Sinfield: ‘Only a Matter of Time’ Until Apple Park Shuts Down Drone Flights

Duncan Sinfield uses a drone to creates videos of Apple Park. He thinks “it’s only a matter of time until the campus becomes shut-off to drones completely… with a geo-fence, or something similar.”

APPLE PARK: A Very Private Corporate Campus | mid-April 2018

Students make drone for campus tours

A group of senior electrical engineering majors from Temple University are building an autonomous drone for their senior design project. The drone would give self-guided tours of the campus to prospective students. The team is utilizing two types of machine learning: a convolutional neural network and imitation learning.

DARPA Will Reel-In Its Gremlins Drones and Pluck Them Out Of The Sky Like Flying Fish

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is proceeding to the third phase of its Gremlins drone swarm program. Dynetics has been awarded a contract for the system which envisions a C-130 Hercules aircraft towing a docking system behind it that the unmanned Gremlins can latch onto for retrieval. Ground and limited flight tests will begin in 2018, and flight tests of the system should be completed by January 2020.

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