Farmer Uses Unmanned Eye in the Sky to Maximize CropsIdaho Business Review (06/23/08)
(Excerpt, thanks to the AUVSI news roundup, follows):
Kendrick, Idaho, farmer Robert Blair is heading the campaign to revamp agricultural information collection. Utilizing Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), Blair has been able to map, track, and study his fields with superior precision. The UAS employed by Blair is known as the CropCam, and has the appearance of a model airplane, with an eight-foot wingspan and a length of four feet. It is battery-fueled, weighs six pounds, and flies at an altitude of between 400 and 2,000 feet, at a maximum speed of 60 mph. It can be configured to fly a particular route on autopilot or under manual control, and is able to cover over 640 acres in around 25 minutes. The UAS is outfitted with a high-resolution camera and sends the data right to Blair's computer for evaluation. The photos he has taken have allowed Blair to look at elk herd damage to his crops and, employing color spectrum overlays, discover precisely which areas require more or less water or fertilizer. Having such in-depth and timely information helped Blair to better manage his crops and saved him more than $50,000 in 2007, he states. Presently, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandates civilian, commercial UAS operators to acquire a Certificate of Authorization for public use, a pilot's license with an instrument rating, and a tail number for the vehicle. Blair would like an exemption to the rules for natural resource management and new UAS rules that more closely match the standards overseeing model airplanes. With help from Congressman Bill Sali (R-Idaho), Blair got several members of Congress to sign and submit a letter to the FAA, asking them to include representatives from natural resource management industries on the agency's rulemaking advisory committee. The committee is working on new regulations for UASs, and Mike Fergus, FAA spokesman for the northwest mountain region, says the process has only just begun. Tom Curtin, Ph.D., chief knowledge officer of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), says his organization has a seat at the table, and hopes the committee will eventually hand down a set of regulations that benefit operators like Blair. "[AUVSI wants] sensible rules that are going to allow unmanned aircraft to be integrated into the national airspace," he says. "And sensible to me means starting with the easy stuff," such as agriculture, forest fires and border control.
The FAA controls the airspace, regardless of who owns the land beneath. But if he keeps below 400ft and line-of-sight and isn't selling his services, I think he may qualify for the recreational exemption. Depends on how the FAA defines "non-commerical".
As I was reading this I wondered if the FAA actually has any say in his exact application of this technology. He is flying exclusively over his own property. He owns the CropCam and flys it himself so there isn't anyone else involved. The pictures and information gathered are for his own personal use and are not for sale. Given this narrow usage, does the FAA have a say in his operations?
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