Interesting roundtable discussion among UAV 'experts' and opinion leaders
From The Engineer: 'The role of the pilot, or commander, or whatever the person overseeing the aircraft is called, is already covered by the existing regulations and the concept of equivalence, said Corbett. Although there are differences in how control is exercised, ‘the aircraft is still piloted, whether it’s by waggling a stick, or using point-and-click with a mouse and on-screen interface. The elements of “airmanship” have to be exactly the same as any other pilot occupying the same piece of airspace, because they will have to cope with the same conditions. Their training might be different, but the end result has to be the same.’
In fact, Corbett said, the whole category of UAV is somewhat misleading. ‘There are four categories of aircraft: glider, balloon, airship and flying machine, and there are manned and unmanned versions of each,’ he said. ‘But if they’re going to operate in the same airspace, then UAVs shouldn’t be considered separately, as something tagged onto the side. They’re just another subset of the same categories.’
'...another consideration is the interest from potential commercial UAS users, and where their demands could pull the technology. Much of the demand is for vehicles which fly at or below 500m, where some of the technology developed in Astraea — sense-and-avoid, for example — might not need to be so complex, as there is little chance of colliding with other aircraft or trees at these altitudes. ‘But the two ends [high- and low-altitude] will come together as the technology miniaturises,’ commented Dopping-Heppenstal. ‘We’ll see lessons from small-scale UAVs taken up by those developing larger aircraft...’
Comments
I personally know someone who has been fighting for regulations changes for UAVs since the early 90's. He has pretty much given up hope of ever getting things to move.
@Jani no its not USA vs everyone else IMHO its more a case of just look how far behind they are getting. Still what do I care I don't live there ;-)
I would say that it's not just Europe vs USA. What about Asia. There are huge amount of all type of UAVs flying and more projects are initiated every day. But yes world is definitely changing. Is it for good or bad, who knows yet.
Thanks Gary, that's a very informative video.
Jump to about 13 minutes to understand the difference in mind set between the Europe and the USA, its a clip about what the BBC has been upto
Watch also the camera comments that will be of interest here.
What a pity the FAA are not so logical, Gerry is very sensible chap. These are not the opinions in the USA and you have to remember the UAPO snubbed the big meeting in Paris two years ago something that raised eyebrows amongst international regulators. It always struck me as sensible to allow small flight and gradually build on it. Rather than thinking of the entire picture at once right up to 747 size craft.