UAVsU.S. lags behind other countries in commercial use of drones

Published 20 March 2014

As the United States continues to explore regulations and safety guidelines for commercial UAVs, other countries have already adopted their use. Photographers, real estate agents, filmmakers, and news agencies in the United States want to use drones in their operations, but the FAA insists that rules addressing safety challenges associated with drones need to be in place before drones can share the sky with manned aircrafts.

As the United States continues to explore regulations and safety guidelines for commercial UAVs, other countries have already adopted their use.

  • For twenty years, Yamaha Motor Company has been offering its RMAX helicopter drones to Japanese farmers and agribusinesses for spraying crops. The radio-controlled drones typically weigh less than 140 pounds, are cheaper than deploying a plane, and are more accurate in applying fertilizers and pesticides.
  • Zookal, a Sydney-based company, plans to deliver books to college students via drones later this year.
  • The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is testing the delivery of government documents like driver’s licenses and permits using small drones.
  • Energy companies in the United Kingdom are using drones to check the undersides of oil platforms for corrosion and repairs.

ABC News reports that in the United States, however, when Lakemaid Beer tried to use a drone to deliver six-packs to ice fishermen on a frozen lake in Minnesota, the FAA grounded the drones.

Photographers, real estate agents, filmmakers, and news agencies in the United States want to use drones in their operations, but the FAA insists that rules addressing safety challenges associated with drones need to be in place before drones can share the sky with manned aircrafts.

ABC News notes that the FAA has worked on regulations for the past decade and may still be years away from issuing final rules for small drones; rules for larger drones, those weighing more than fifty-five pounds, will take longer to compile.

“We don’t have the luxury of waiting another 20 years,” said Paul McDuffee, vice president of drone-maker Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing. “This industry is exploding. It’s getting to the point where it may end up happening with or without the FAA’s blessing.”

Earlier this month, a federal judge dismissed the only fine the FAA has imposed on a commercial drone operator, saying that the agency cannot enforce regulations that do not exist. The FAA has appealed the ruling, claiming it controls access to the national air space.

Jim Williams, head of the FAA’s drone unit, said setting rules for the United States is more complex than other nations since the United States has more air traffic and a wider variety of aircrafts. “It’s a different culture in the U.S. and Canada,” Williams told ABC News. “People believe they have the right to just jump in their airplane and fly just like they do their car. … We can’t set up a system that puts any of those folks at risk.”

According to the Teal Group, an aerospace research company, worldwide sales of civilian and military drones will reach an estimated $89 billion over the next decade. The FAA estimates roughly 7,500 small commercial drones will be active in the United States within five years after FAA regulations are in place.

The FAA does permit hobbyists to fly model aircrafts, but voluntary guidelines for hobbyists include staying away from airports, flying at an altitude of less than 400 feet, and the operator must maintain line of sight with the aircraft.

You could go off to the hobby shop, buy a little remote control helicopter and fly it to your heart’s content,” McDuffee said. “But if you hung a digital camera on that, took pictures of your neighbor’s roof and sold those pictures to him or her, now you are in business and you’re flying” an unmanned aircraft system.