UAS's

As technology evolved, UAS’s (unmanned areal system) came to be. Now as UAS’s continue to grow, they find their way into the civilian market. UAS’s can be used for anything from areal photography or just for recreational play. With their current growth I see UAS’s replacing helicopters in filming movies, carrying packages to door steps, and even replacing freight pilots. But are UAS’s being regulated? In order for anyone to use an UAS they must first get an exception from the FAA.
“Obtaining a Special Airworthiness Certificate in the experimental category for a particular UAS is currently the only way civil operators of unmanned aircraft are accessing the NAS. Experimental certificate regulations preclude carrying people or property for compensation or hire, but do allow operations for research and development, flight and sales demonstrations and crew training.”
 - FAA.gov.
There have been multiple accounts of people not acquiring the proper paperwork and flying UAS’s, just to get found out by the FAA and punished.

With UAS’s growing more popular I believe that it is only a matter of time before they are integrated into the NAS. With companies like Amazon trying to use drones, the interest is there but, is the safety? Every so often there is a drone strike. Some pilot did not see the drone and collided with it. With some drones being small and flying high, it is easy to see why the FAA is hesitant on releasing regulations. Also, with no person flying the UAS, what will happen if control is lost? I believe that with Nextgen, UAS’s will be forced to have positioning reporting equipment, if they want to fly in an airspace. Currently the military uses UAS’s that have a preprogrammed route. If a failure is detected or control is lost the programmed route takes over.

In the military UAS’s take on a much different role. according to uavs.org UAS’s have 6 main functions: security, search and rescue, monitoring, impact and disaster management, communications, and munitions. With UAS’s the military can send up an unmanned drone, controlled from the other side of the world. This saves pilots from flying into higher risk areas and save the cost of sending in a fighter jet, where something smaller can get the job done just as well. The integration of UAS’s have been good, so good there is even talk that one day there will be no more manned planes. As for me, I think there will always be a need for manned planes in the military because, there will always be a need for the human to “press the button”.

References:

https://www.faa.gov/uas/

https://www.uavs.org/military