Last Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration released long-awaited draft rules on the operation of drones, opening the nation's airspace to the commercial possibilities of the burgeoning technology, but not without restrictions.
You're clear to send that drone skyward. But not at night. Not too close to an airport. Not out of your sight.
The proposed FAA rules are set to allow commercial unmanned aircraft under 55 pounds to perform routine tasks such as inspections of highways, bridges and cell towers, as well as crop monitoring. Agriculture is expected to become one of the first industries to embrace drones.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer has long been arguing for clear FAA guidelines for drones. He says the technology exists that can take human error out of the equation: GPS "no fly zone" software and firmware that keeps drones out of restricted spaces.
The Democrat favors requiring manufacturers to use technology that can keep drones in check. He sent a letter to the FAA in late January asking drone regulation be fast-tracked. He pointed out that nationwide there are about 25 drone sightings at airports per month, and in many of the cases, pilots said the devices were operating dangerously close to their planes. "The commercial ones can do very good things. But you gotta watch out for two things: safety, so that they don't collide with airplanes, and the regulations that the FAA put out are pretty good that way 'cause they say the drones cannot fly above 500 feet or within, say, 4 miles of Albany Airport. So that would prevent that. But you also have privacy concerns. No one wants a drone hovering outside their living room or bedroom windows. We gotta be careful about that too."
Albany Airport officials declined to comment, suggesting the FAA be contacted instead. Calls to the FAA were not returned.
Albany Law School professor Robert Heverly sees many potential conflicts on the horizon, some involving property law, others involving negligence. "...it's gonna be one of those complexities like computers. What do we do when a computer fails and something bad happens. We throw up our hands we go 'we don't know how that happened' it's too complex. Same thing with drones. The drone company's gonna say 'we made it just fine. I looks like what happened is some radio interference from some sort of thing that we couldn't have predicted. So we didn't do anything wrong. It's not our fault. he person who created the interference might say 'I didn't know the drones would be in the area. It's not my fault.' You're gonna have issues where a drone crashes into a house or a yard. So you're gonna have the uncertainties of those kinds of things when they become pervasive, which I think we're kind on the path for them to be."
Final FAA rules governing drones and quadcopters are likely two to three years away.
