UAVs

In the United States, civilian drones have become popular within recent years and are available at stores for purchase to the public. Mostly, civilian UAVs are being used for recreational purposes such as independent film making, skyline footage, and even environmental surveys. According to National Geographic, civilian use of drones include hurricane hunting, 3D mapping, wildlife protection, agriculture, and search and rescue (Carroll, 2013). Recently, there was a YouTube video of a drone flying over a volcano to give a never-before-seen view of an erupting volcano. For the most part, civilian use of drones- whether being used by companies or for private use- has been seen as a useful and unique way to gather images (Handwerk, 2013). However, there are places where civilian drones are illegal for use without some type of permit or certificate, and are illegal over certain areas and have limits on nighttime. France is currently battling a civilian drone issue during nighttime hours over historic landmarks in Paris, which is illegal (Whittaker, 2015). In the United States, the FAA issued requirements for civilian model aircraft as follows:

The aircraft is flown strictly for hobby or recreational use;   The aircraft is operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines and within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization;
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;
The aircraft is operated in a manner that does not interfere with and gives way to any manned aircraft;
And 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 (Model Aircraft , 2014).

Moreover, I personally do not see UAVs being integrated in the NAS in the near future, but that doesn’t mean they will never be. However, there is a project being designed by NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center to help integrate unmanned air vehicles into the NAS. With the use and diversity of unmanned aircraft growing rapidly, new uses for these vehicles are constantly being considered. Unmanned aircraft promise new ways of increasing efficiency, reducing costs, enhancing safety and saving lives. The UAS in the NAS project envisions performance-based routine access to all segments of the national airspace for all unmanned aircraft system classes, once all safety-related and technical barriers are overcome. Within the project, NASA is focusing on five sub-projects. “These five focus areas include assurance of safe separation of unmanned aircraft from manned aircraft when flying in the national airspace; safety-critical command and control systems and radio frequencies to enable safe operation of UAS; human factors issues for ground control stations; airworthiness certification standards for UAS avionics and integrated tests and evaluation designed to determine the viability of emerging UAS technology” (Dunbar, 2014). I see many problems resulting from this. The NAS is already intensely congested and to put small UAVs, some of which are as small as birds, could cause obvious problems. This isn’t to say that there wouldn’t be any benefit from integrating UAVs into the NAS, but I think it’s going to take a great amount of time to fully accomplish a high level of safety for all aircraft integrated within the system. There also needs to be collaboration with ATC, FAA, the public, the airlines, and military in order to make integration of UAVs in the NAS practical and safe.

In addition to UAVs, the military has been seen as the forefront for unmanned aircraft, particularly in the Middle East. Proponents say that drones have decimated terrorist networks abroad via precise strikes with minimal civilian casualties. They contend that drones are relatively inexpensive weapons, are used under proper government oversight, and that their use helps prevent "boots on the ground" combat and makes America safer (Drones, 2014). With that being said, drone strikes can be seen as unethical and a violation of International Law. “They contend that drone strikes kill large numbers of civilians, violate international law, lack sufficient congressional oversight, violate the sovereignty of other nations, and make the horrors of war appear as innocuous as a video game” (Drones, 2014). Personally, I believe drones in military use is a matter of personal opinion when it comes to being ethical or unethical. It is a political issue, and you will have that with war. However, when it comes to military strategy, drones are operating in a way more precisely than what a manned jet may be able to, and it prevents pilots from getting into a potentially, extremely hazardous area. Overall, despite ethical issues, I do believe that the integration of drones for military use has been efficient.

Finally, I have found a Project Manager position for Textron Systems: Unmanned Systems. “Textron Systems businesses are industry leading developers and integrators of unmanned systems, advanced marine craft, armored vehicles, intelligent battlefield and surveillance systems, geospatial management and analysis systems, intelligence software solutions, precision weapons, piston engines, test and training systems, and total lifecycle sustainment and operational services. Textron Systems’ businesses consist of Advanced Information Solutions, Electronic Systems, Geospatial Solutions, Lycoming Engines, Marine & Land Systems, Support Solutions, Unmanned Systems, Weapon & Sensor Systems and TRU Simulation + Training.

Responsible and accountable for the management, budget and schedule performance for part of a development, product or logistics program or a single, previously developed and mature program with a well-defined program plan and delivery methodologies. Typically serves a single internal customer with minor or no external customer contact” (Textron, 2015).

References

Carroll, J. (2013, June 7). Five ways UAVs are being used by civilians. Retrieved February 26, 2015, from http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2013/06/five-ways-uavs-are-being-used-by-civilians.html

Drones. (2014, August 11). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from http://drones.procon.org/#background

Dunbar, B. (2014, February 28). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-075-DFRC.html#.VO9hUHzF_DZ

Handwerk, B. (2013, December 2). 5 Surprising Drone Uses (Besides Amazon Delivery). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131202-drone-uav-uas-amazon-octocopter-bezos-science-aircraft-unmanned-robot/

Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft. (2014, June 18). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/model_aircraft_spec_rule.pdf

Textron (2015, February 4). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from https://textron.taleo.net/careersection/textron/jobdetail.ftl?job=232597&lang=en&src=JB-10146

Whittaker, F. (2015, February 25). Mysterious Drones Seen Hovering Above Paris Landmarks For Two Nights Running. Retrieved February 26, 2015, from http://www.buzzfeed.com/franciswhittaker/mysterious-drones-seen-hovering-above-paris-landmarks-for-2?bftw&utm_term=4ldqpgc#.ghQ09wewN