Drone operations

Drones versus hobby aircraft

Insurance definitions

Coverages

Industry use

Issues

Summary

Introduction

 Drones are continually in the news, but what exactly are they? The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) refers to them as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). They are robots with the ability to hover, which makes them useful for using video cameras to record data; hence their use in firefighting, surveillance, and traffic monitoring. They can also be used for delivering smaller packages or spraying crops. They can be controlled remotely similar to how remote hobby aircraft are controlled, but they can also be programmed to fly independently using GPS navigation. The online retailer Amazon plans to use drones for delivery of smaller packages, and hobbyists use them for aerial photography. Drones were successfully use in Haiti to deliver aid, medicine and supplies when the earthquake occurred in 2010. Some insurance companies are starting to use drones for claim handling and investigations; drones can be extremely helpful in catastrophe situations, keeping adjusters safe and quickly handling claims for insureds. To date the FAA has granted more than 5,000 exemptions allowing individuals and companies to fly drones for a variety of reasons, including inspections, aerial photography, roof inspections, search and rescue, filmmaking, tower and line inspections, and a variety of other tasks. The process has been expedited and Certificates of Authorization (COA) are now being issued on a blanket basis, so that the holder of the certificate can fly anywhere in the country at or below 200 feet except restricted airspace, close to airports, and other restricted areas.

 Drone use has swiftly grown. The FAA expects sales of an additional 1.9 million drones used as model aircraft in 2016, with 600,000 others being used for other than model purposes. Estimates are that the growth will continue at twenty-three percent for the next five years.

 Airspace

 Airspace is one of the first things to become an issue. Being airborne, drones do not travel over roads, but through the air. There are two types of airspace, controlled and uncontrolled. Controlled airspace is at flight level for full size airplanes or surrounding airports at various heights above the surface and requires certain communications with the tower. Controlled classes are A, B, C, D, and E; class G is uncontrolled air space. Controlled airspace has various requirements concerning visibility, distance from clouds, distance from the surface, pilot licensing, equipment requirements, and air traffic control requirements.

 Uncontrolled airspace is what has not been designated class A, B, C, D, or E, and extends from the surface to the overlaying areas of class E space. This is considered class G. Classes C, D, E and G have no pilot requirements, and classes E and G have no equipment requirements. Equipment required would be two way radios and transponders. Air traffic control has no responsibility or authority to control air traffic in class G; however, visual flight rules apply. Visual flight rules are standards for flying that have certain visibility requirements that correspond to altitude, class of airspace, and distance from clouds. Drones can fly in space G as there are no pilot, equipment, or entry requirements. Entry requirements are when the pilot must contact air traffic control for permission to enter the airspace.

 There is special use airspace within which certain activities must be confined or other aircraft not involved are prohibited. These areas generally consist of prohibited, restricted, warning, military operations, alert, and controlled flying areas. Likewise there are other areas consisting of military training, temporary flight restrictions, parachute jump operations, national security areas, and other areas.

 Drones can be operated in space from ground level to above 50,000 feet, depending on the specific type of aircraft. However, drone operations are currently not authorized in Class B airspace, which is from the surface to 10,000 feet surrounding the nation's busiest airports. Class B space also includes airspace over major urban areas and contains the highest density of manned aircraft in the National Airspace System (NAS).

 Drone Operations

 The FAA defines three types of drone operations: civil, public (governmental), and model aircraft. Civil operators must obtain a special airworthiness certificate in order to operate a drone in the NAS. The certificate is for experimental craft and states that the operator has proved that the drone can operate safely within an assigned flight test area and cause no harm to the public. The application requires the description of the design, construction, manufacture, including engineering processes and software development and control, along with configuration management, and quality assurance procedures. The applicant must also identify how and where the drone is to be flown. The carrying of people or property for a fee is not allowed in civil airspace, but research and development, flight and sales demonstrations, and crew training are allowed.

 For public entities that want to fly a drone in civil airspace, a Certificate of Authorization (COA) is required. This is considered public (governmental) use of drones. COAs can be issued for drones and give the organization permission to operate a particular drone in a particular area for a particular purpose. National Airspace access is granted for a specific UAS activity; the COA contains the requirements the holder must follow. The FAA works with organizations requesting a COA to ensure that conditions and limitations for drone flight ensure the safety of other aviation operations. COAs are generally for a defined length of time, in some cases up to two years. This is to ensure that UAS provide a similar safety level as manned aircraft. Usually the drone is not allowed to operate in populated areas, and drones are to be observed either by someone in a manned aircraft or on the ground. Most COAs require coordination with air traffic control and may require a transponder on the drone to operate in certain types of airspace. Currently COAs are most often used for law enforcement, firefighting, border patrol, search and rescue, and other such governmental operations.

 The FAA has specific exemptions called Section 333 exemptions for certain types of use. This is for civil UAS operations in National Airspace that do not meet the requirements of public UAS operations or the requirements for manned aircraft. Currently 5,309 exemptions have been granted for various operations such as aerial survey, photography, videography, real estate imaging, mapping and surveying, fish surveillance and tracking, infrastructure inspections, construction site monitoring, closed-set filming for motion pictures, television and web production, safety inspections, training and education, search and rescue, insurance claims, forestry, live assist for law enforcement, and many other uses.

 Other types of approval are the Special Airworthiness Certificates – Experimental Category are for civil aircraft to perform research and development, crew training and market surveys. There is also a UAS type and airworthiness certificate in the Restricted Category for a special purpose or type of certificate for production of the UAS under certain regulations.

 The FAA makes a distinction between hobby aircraft and aircraft used for commercial use—the following chart outlines the distinctions. The FAA planned to issue regulations on the commercial use of drones by September 2015. Currently, forty-five states have either considered or enacted legislation on drones.

Drones versus Hobby Aircraft

 What exactly separates a drone from an aircraft or a hobby aircraft? There are many radio-controlled (RC) model aircraft clubs and pilots who fly their crafts on a regular basis without any problem. What is the difference? This is a difficult question. Recreational drones are similar in many ways to RC aircraft but are not required to abide by operating conditions for RC aircraft. The insurance for the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) does not apply to drones. Drones must adhere to some of the same regulations as commercial aircraft.