This Land Is Your Land, but ןs the Air the FAA’s Land?

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

The FAA will have to update its regulations in the face of a booming field.

In Turkey, the remains of Antiochia ad Cragum, an ancient Roman city, is the site of a massive archaeological dig. Ben Kreimer, a journalist technologist and drone consultant, is doing aerial imaging of the site with a drone.

According to Kreimer, the drone gets the quality footage that enables him to show viewers images in a way that the human eye has never seen before.

“Something about it is really captivating. It really comes down to the movement that draws you in; it’s like this new experience on subjects always documented but now … it’s the movement of the UAS [unmanned aircraft system] – it grabs me,” Kreimer said in a Skype interview.

Kreimer has also flown drones in Africa where he videoed animals in the wild from viewpoints rarely seen. However, he is barred by the Federal Aviation Administration from flying drones in the United States.

After 9/11, the FAA said no to flying drones for commercial use in national airspace. But very soon that is all about to change, as drones are flying their way into the hearts of the commercial world.

Unmanned systems conference 2014 – Israel

To the FAA, drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or UAVs, are viewed as aircraft. The agency’s definition of the term “aircraft” being “a device that is used or intended to be used for flight in the air.”  Here’s where it gets complicated.  At this time, the FAA does not allow a UAV to be flown for “commercial” use.  The umbrella includes everyone but the “hobbyist.”

Flying a drone for a hobby is perfectly fine. The FAA defines the rules for flying model aircraft in its 30-something-year-old, 91-57 AC document.

The way the FAA regulations are written at this time, commercial drone operation is only legal in other countries or indoors, in the U.S.  However, later this year new rules allowing UAS flight in the U.S. will be made public, according to the FAA’s Randy Willis

Private rated pilots are not allowed to receive money for flying under any circumstances. Yet commercial rated pilots, can and do receive payment for flying. The difference between flying a drone for fun and flying a drone for profit is what gets tricky.