So there is an article at 9news which talks about small businesses which rely on UAV’s, or unmanned aerial vehicles, to do aerial photography and how they have been effectively shut down. As a company that is looking to move into that field, albeit a bit more afield than the company in the video, it is unnerving to have to deal with regulations, or more correctly, declarations that upset the entire balance of how you can operate.
I went to the FAA website, and did in fact find the advisory circular regarding model aircraft. I’m still unsure where the soruce of the additional restrictions is actually in print, but I’m working on finding that out.
In any event, development of the current airframe still falls under the “hobbyist” realm, and so testing will continue once the proof of concept is completed around the end of this month or the first week of March. What may be pause for consideration in the future is when the GPS tracking, cameras, and remote operating equipment is placed in the test rig and we need to certify it’s functionality and verify all of the designed capabilities.
As it stands now, it’s a bump in the road, that may become a large obstacle to be avoided in the future. I believe that we will be able to continue, due to the fact that our system will not be operated primarily in the “urban canyons” or even over generally populated areas. Also, this is a growing issue which will have to come to a head and some system of management and registration/certification process will have to be constructed.
What I suppose I find is so disruptive of all this, is that what was a perfectly legitimate business opportunity and pursuit yesterday, has been essentially declared illegal today, and no laws were even passed. A bureaucratic agency has handed down a “ruling”, which unfortunately, only law-abiding, hardworking, contributors to the tax base, American citizens have to find a way to live with.
Posted in General by Brad on February 28th, 2007 
