well the best way is to find a university interested in uav research , and make your self available to do demos, you usually have to foot the bill yourself but its a great foot in the door. also call your local government services . the trick is to get in with a major university or a governmental agency . after that its really between them and the FAA .but one thing everyone has to understand is that this is serious stuff , our A-3 retails for $75,000 . every time i fly i understand that peoples lives are on the line . this type of job is not for everyone , it is very high stress and mistakes cant be made . just to give an idea about what it takes , we have spent well over $250,000 over the past 2 years and we are just now starting to get some income . so if you have an extra $ 1/4 mil sitting around , can do without if for a few years and are willing to risk it all in what amounts to an overblown r/c monster of an airplane with a 3/4 second control delay this just might be your line of work.so to sum up#1 lots of $#2 fly huge , very expensive airplane or even a small , very expensive airplane#3 get some form of government help (dont be afraid to crack open a phone book and look at the blue pages and call people !! )#4 i have found that most government agencies want big payloads , high altitudes and all weather beyond-horizon abilitygood luck to everone and above allHAVE FUN !!!wayne
That's basically what I'm saying. The issuance of the CA at the "Class" level, those that fall into the class apply to opperate through a registration process. The class would be governed by appropriate rule base. That may require registration in may areas, (ie authority to fly in rural areas, versus populated, ect). I doubt that a blanked fly anywhere would ever be given, even for small craft.
(sorry for the off subject comment i couldnt message you for some reason!) my mind gets filled with things quick and i forgot a website address that was on this site i will give you some details. it sells ground stations for uav's it sells those dome cameras, and i do believe it sells uav's but im not sure it's a semi commercial site where "if you have to ask you cant afford it" if you could help me with this i would appreciate it!!!
basically i think it in the end it will mimic full scale rules as in you could go and buy an off the shelf UAV that's been certified , get a pilots license with a UAV endorsement and then you could go out and fly , under restrictions for what ever land owner down the street . but stuff like OTH will still be limited , used only in controlled airspace . the smaller uavs , over unpopulated ares will be first . at least thats what I've gathered after reading all the latest announcements from the FAA for the past 5 years.
yep thats pretty much whats going on . you would just need to get a "certified" plane and then go out and fly under what ever restrictions the faa wants to impose
Good luck to us all if there is a rule change that requires us to get a COA. If the COA is location based (Canada I believe takes two weeks to issue permits currently) and we need to wait for the FAA to approve them every time we will all go gray waiting. More likely to be a weight class for small UAV and a general registration and rules governing where we can fly.
Say the rules change and allow for small class UAVs. As I understand even if the rules change we'd still need to obtain a COA or at least a COE. Is it likely that we'll be able to piggy-back off other issued certificates? I'm thinking it would be really cool if any rule changes for micro-uav would be class based and allow for proof/demo of your setup showing it meets the particulars of a "class". Then it would be more about getting approval to fly in certain areas or situations (IE Search and Rescue w/local authorities).
but please don't let me discourage the little guys out there . it wasn't my money that's footing the bill at peak . the main point I'm trying to make here is that you need to have a good product with special capabilities , you need to get out and sell yourself and your idea to the right people and be ready for a long tough road and a lot of rejection and giggles and if you are smart and persistent you can over come any obstacle . in the end the way i see it is this , pilots are dying right now because we aren't flying . you tell this to a search and rescue heli pilot and i promise you he will love you for it.
Comments
as promised all the COA info.
Am I way off?
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