"yeah - I'm inferring (guessing?) that they want to survey fairly large areas, where longer flight times and the ability to cover more ground would make fixed-wing better than a multi-rotor.  Unless maybe they're inspecting hard to access…"

"I very much appreciate Guy McCladden's comment - there are a lot of questions not addressed in the IEEE article.
Our goal here should be to promote a realistic assessment of the risks posed.  At one extreme, you see popular comments that imply that…"

"Was it previously permitted to fly model aircraft in these parks?  My sense is that in many places there are rules on the books dating back to when "RC aircraft" meant a medium-sized fixed wing plane with a loud, smoky, fire-hazard,…"

"F1P, I am not a lawyer, but the sort of "convictions group" you might be thinking of would be essentially a religion in US law, not something like "people who fly drones."  For a law that claims to protect the privacy of the general public, arguing…"

"In many aspects of privacy, we already have existing laws that have been worked through in courts.  If a neighbor stands in his back yard with a wide angle lens on a camera and takes a photo in any direction, he's likely to get the adjacent houses…"

"In his one comment in the comment thread on the column, Mr. Zorn linked directly to a youtube video as "evidence" to support his "thesis."  That video is clearly a parody - a guy with a fake Russian accent "flying" a badly CG rendered "drone" that's…"

"I had suspected the same - that there were manned aircraft commercial operators whose business model doesn't fare well versus UASs who were lobbying the FAA to avoid competition... but the linked article seems very, very short on facts or details."