AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2015 - 62

MODEL AIRCRAFT DOS
AND DON'TS

configuration-a multicopter with a camera, extra batteries, and case-sells for
slightly less than $3,000, and he generally has about 200 backordered.
So what makes a hobbyist who photographs his own house for amusement
safer than a realtor who photographs a
home to sell it? Is someone flying for business more likely to take risks? Whitney
thinks the FAA is being too tough on what
he calls "lite commercial." If someone is
operating expensive equipment, he reasons that the commercial operator will be
safer and more efficient because his livelihood depends on it.
Whether they're flying for fun or
money, more operators are sending
unmanned aircraft into the airspace than
ever before-and many don't know, or don't
care, about standards for operating safely.
Jim Williams, manager of the FAA UAS
Integration Office, told an audience at the
UAS Action Summit in Grand Forks, North
Dakota, in June 2014 that there had been a
huge increase in pilot reports of incidents
involving unmanned or model aircraft.
The agency has tried to rein in both.
While it can't regulate model aircraft,
the FAA asserted its prerogative in June
to take enforcement action against operators if they endanger the safety of the
National Airspace System. The same document also set out restrictions on model
aircraft operations (including prohibited
commercial activities) that the hobby
community thought overstepped longstanding guidelines.
Whitney says the answer isn't more
restrictions. He said every unit that comes
out of his shop comes with the advisory circular governing model aircraft

In the summer of 2014, the FAA
asserted its enforcement authority
over model aircraft and issued these
guidelines for hobbyists:
DOS
* Do fly a model aircraft/UAS at the
local model aircraft club
* Do take lessons and learn to fly
safely
* Do contact the airport or control
tower when flying within 5 miles of
the airport
* Do fly a model aircraft for personal
enjoyment
DON'TS
* Don't fly near manned aircraft
* Don't fly beyond line of sight of the
operator
* Don't fly an aircraft weighing more
than 55 pounds unless it's certified
by an aeromodeling communitybased organization
* Don't fly contrary to your aeromodeling community-based safety
guidelines
* Don't fly model aircraft for payment or commercial purposes
For more information, visit the
website (www.knowbeforeyoufly.
org).

NO FLY ZONES

Don't want UAS flying over you
and your property? Pilot Ben Marcus
created the website (www.noflyzone.
org) to allow the public to post
their property addresses, which get
entered into a database. UAS manufacturers can voluntarily choose to
include the associated coordinates in
their drone's programming. In doing
so, the drones will not fly over those
properties. The database already
includes airports, hospitals, schools,
and other sensitive locations.

operations and an invitation to more
advanced training, with information on
how to connect with the Academy of
Model Aeronautics. "Education is the key
to all this stuff," he said.
DIRTY, DANGEROUS, DIFFICULT, DULL

Forty years ago, his father could scout 40
acres in a day. Then, with a four-wheeler,
it was 400 acres. Now, said Mitchell Fiene,
co-founder of DMZ Aerial, a quadcopter
can scout thousands of acres of fields in
one day. Fiene parlayed a hobby of working with unmanned aircraft into a start-up
business, modifying the aircraft for precision agriculture. His family's company
customizes consumer systems with gimbal-stabilized camera or multispectral
imaging equipment and sells them to customers who want to identify problem areas
in croplands. He's been waiting for the
small UAS regulations so he can offer aerial scouting as a service.
According to Michael Toscano, former
president and CEO of AUVSI, precision
agriculture is a good proving ground for
unmanned aircraft systems because the
likelihood of a person being in that space
is low. He stresses that unmanned systems
help people do their jobs more effectively,
particularly when it comes to the "Four
Ds:" Missions that are dirty, dangerous,
difficult, or dull.
"Men and women know how to do
their job," he said. "But they do want to
come home." According to AUVSI, crop
dusters have the third highest fatality rate
among professions in the United States.
Unmanned aircraft already are being used
in other countries and through research
authorizations-and, in some cases, in

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62 | AOPA PILOT April 2015

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2015

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