NAAA filed comments on July 21 on a petition for exemption from certain Federal
Aviation Regulations filed by Trimble to fly a small UAV commercially in the
National Airspace System for precision agriculture. This petition follows one
NAAA commented on last week, July 16, filed by Astraeus Aerial for aerial filming.
NAAA emphasized in its comments the safety risks UAVs pose and
referenced fatal accident statistics pertaining to aircraft and low-level
hazards from birds, towers and low-level mid-air collisions to make its
point. NAAA also stated “a system of aircraft identification such as
ADS-B [aircraft tracking systems]…and a strobe light” should be used to
increase UAVs conspicuousness for safety purposes. Petitions to fly UAVs
for commercial purposes have also been filed by Amazon.com, and Yamaha.
The Yamaha petition is currently open for comment with a closure
date of Aug.4. The petition is to allow use of the RMAX, a small unmanned aerial
application rotorcraft. The Amazon.com petition is not yet open for comment. NAAA
will be filing comments on all petitions FAA makes available, and it’s
important that members file comments on this commercial use of low-level
airspace as well to ensure FAA hears our industry’s safety concerns.
NAAA’s comments on the Trimble petition can be
found here. Also, stay tuned for the September/October
edition of Agricultural
Aviation magazine, which will have a detailed discussion of UAV
petitions for exemption, along with additional updates on the UAV
industry.