UAV's

UAV's fulfill a unique roll in todays society, from providing an ariel view of human targets in a military application to a $499 version sold at electronic stores available to anyone and everyone. In the civilian sector UAV's fill a more broad roll in society than the relatively specialized roll that they serve in the military. To list the job functions that a UAV can fulfill would be a long list, but a few of the things that they do is; help create 3D modeling, provide guided tours at MIT, parcel delivery service via Amazon, assists in the coordinating of flood efforts (Carroll, J). Currently there are no official regulations pertaining to UAV's but there is a proposal to enact regulations to control the Unmanned Ariel Systems in the future. If the NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) did go into effect there would be a number of rules that would pertain to UAV's such as; UAV's must weigh less than 55lbs, they must remain within  a visual line of sight (VLOS),  they may not operate over any persons not involved in the operations,  maximum airspeed of 100 mph, maximum altitude of 500 AGL (must remain out of controlled airspace), requires a preflight inspections, and no person may operate a UAV while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. While the proposed rules are not set in stone yet the website (www.knowbeforeyoufly.org) has a set of rules that were proposed by the FAA for operators to follow in the meantime.

I personally believe the implementation of UAV's into the NAS is going to be a long process with a lot of skepticism initially then eventually it will be almost as normal seeing a UAV in the sky as it is an airplane. The only thing that I think will be different between the image of UAV's and airplanes initially and further down the road is that I do not believe that people will ever accept UAV's for what they are with their ability to travel low, slow and right outside your house or window. With regard to their potential to violate peoples privacy is what is either going to make or break the future of them. Initially there is going to be a lot of problems regarding letting UAV's out into our airspace with regard to safety, privacy, and perception. First off, the NPRM that the FAA is writing up regulates UAV's up to and including 55lbs. At that weight if something were to go wrong and one of the engines malfunction or a guidance computer stop working you essentially have a 55lb piece of mass that will fall from the sky and have more than enough capability to fall and kill an innocent bystander. We accept this feat with regard to hundred thousand pound airplanes because of a couple reasons. First of all we all like the fact that we can travel hundred or even thousands of miles in a fraction of the time in an airplane and for the most part they are a safe method of transportation. Secondly in the event that something does malfunction in the air there are capable pilots who can maneuver the aircraft in most instances to avoid causing harm to other non participating persons or property. These two stipulations are not feasible with regard to a UAV, even with redundant systems it just is not possible right now to say they are 100% safe and on top of that the public is not really benefiting much from them.

The military has by far been the pinnacle of UAV operators to date and has demonstrated how they can be a great help with regard to manipulating war strategy. Since the mid 1990's the military has been experimenting with UAV's in the battlefield and they have proved to be a viable source of information that in turn safes valuable military service members from undue harm. With regard to UAV's and evaluating whether or not their implementation has been sufficient or not I think is hard to say. The department of defense has agreed to supply the armed services with a $2.9 billion dollar budget for the years to come (Gettinger, D). That figure is obviously a lot, roughly 6% of the total military spending budget. The UAV's that help us wage the war on terror overseas has saved a countless number of american lives which I believe justifies their presence in our military.

While roaming the web for UAS jobs I was surprised at how many that I inadvertently came across. One of the more prestigious of unique job postings I found was from the Oregon Employment Department and was a job posting for an overseas based Field Service Rep/UAV Operator. The job involves being deployed overseas for months to years at a time and conducting top secret private government operations enhancing war efforts. The job posting requires a top secret security clearance among other things, such as a FAA airmen certificate, FAA medical/psych eval, prior UAV experience, and foreign language experience. The job posting can be found at (http://www.simplyhired.com/job/field-service-representative-uas-operator-3-job/oregon-employment-department/sansfqmig5?cid=guqappotzkvqltgaalefiuslfyakkbdb)


Carroll, J. (2013, December 6). The future is here: Five applications of UAV technology. Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2013/12/the-future-is-here-five-applications-of-uav-technology.html

Cuadra, A. (2014, June 20). How drones are controlled. Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/drone-crashes/how-drones-work/

Field Service Representative / UAS Operator 3 - Oregon Employment Department | Bingen, WA. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://www.simplyhired.com/job/field-service-representative-uas-operator-3-job/oregon-employment-department/sansfqmig5?cid=guqappotzkvqltgaalefiuslfyakkbdb

Gettinger, D. (2015, February 4). Drones in the Defense Budget. Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://dronecenter.bard.edu/drones-in-the-defense-budget/