UAV’s, What will they come up with next?

UAV’s, What will they come up with next?

When asked, what possible use could a civilian have for a UAV or drone aircraft; not many people could come up with more than “blow up the annoying neighbor’s house because he didn’t return my lawnmower yet”. Apart from the Call of Duty aspects of UAVs, drones were intended to fill two very specific roles. Fly into areas that are unsafe for human pilots and perform long repetitive flights over long periods of time (the jobs we don’t want to do out of sheer boredom).

So how do these pertain to the civilian side? When asked to observe the damage from a hazmat spill with toxic fumes, many pilots will politely decline and walk away laughing. If it’s not practical to bring a large aircraft in where cliff walls or other obstacles may damage even a small aircraft, something else is need to aid is search and rescue or scientific observation. UAVs are both safe to fly in these hazardous conditions and even if they are destroyed; there is no loss of human life. So how about that second condition, long repetitive flights. Since there are so many possibilities with this one, let’s just talk about an obvious one. Google street view is one of the newer features on Google maps and allows a person to not only see the building at the address, but look at landmarks around it so they know they are getting close. Normally these pictures are taken from a very expensive camera system mounted on a car that drives every single road. See where I am going with this? Now imagine a drone with a much smaller camera zipping 50-60ft overhead, skipping stoplights, traffic jams, and not getting pulled over by the police after your multimillion dollar car camera knocks out an overhead sign.

Do I foresee UAVs integrating into the NAS? Eventually, yes I do see them entering the NAS. Because of how they are regulated now, I see an additional airspace and/or modification of class G airspace letting the drones and UAVs stay under that 400ft AGL umbrella. Though some problems may arise, I don’t believe they would be the expected ones, like aircraft collision Obviously, airports and other flight center’s would be designated no fly zones for the very small drones and only ones requiring the use of the airstrip would be permitted under strict observation, but what about population centers? I would expect the real problem would be from building crashes and noise complaints. Since a majority of drones are so small, they wouldn’t even clutter up ATC radar screens.

As for the military application of UAVs, how have they transformed military strategy? Speaking as a member of the US armed forces and as a UAV pilot both in the National Training Center in Ft Irwin, CA, and Afghanistan; UAVs have made a huge impact. Drones are prevalent at every level of the military, so much so that they are taking over many of the patrol aspects and reconnaissance roles that were usually reserved for special scout platoons, and even replacing air support for troops in combat. There have been ethical arguments, asking is the person in the control room getting enough information to pull the trigger? But in reality these are mute since even fighter pilots have to get clearance to fire their weapons and the overall decision to fire does not lay with the pilot. Military operations have become safer and more expedient by adding drones to their toolbox.

So how about a career with UAV’s? I sat and thought for 30 seconds, literally 30 seconds and came up with a list of almost twenty jobs!

         1)      Traffic Flow Observer (News)

         2)      Traffic Observer (Police)

         3)      Search and Rescue (Advanced Scout)

         4)      Google Maps (Street View)

         5)      Postal Service (Parcel delivery)

         6)      Land Surveyor

         7)      Pipeline Surveyor

         8)      Animal Studies (Observing animal movements)

         9)      Farming (Crop Observation)

        10)  Pest Control (Bug Mist)

        11)  Security (Roving camera)

        12)  Messenger Service

        13)  Event Coverage (News)

        14)  Disaster Relief (Supply drop)

        15)  Air Defense Zone

        16)  Drone test pilot

        17)  Air refueling

        18)  Drug Hunter (DEA)

Because of their adaptability, accessibility, and ease of use; UAVs will always have a place in the immediate future and will be constantly be a growing industry.

References:

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/06/google_skybox_titan_aerospace_acquisitions_why_it_needs_satellites_and_drones.html

http://www.uxvuniversity.com/unmanned-systems-jobs/