TECH TALK One major step in the right
direction is a new app that the FAA has released, where unmanned aircraft can be fl own safely. The B4UFLY app (available for iOS and Android smartphones) is free and can be downloaded from iTunes and Google Play. This is part of the FAA education campaign and is a good start, but certainly needs to evolve to provide more information to new drone users. The B4UFLY app helps unmanned
aircraft operators determine whether there are any restrictions or requirements in eff ect at the location where they want to fl y, and shows interactive maps. It provides clear “status” indicators that straightaway inform the operator about the current or planned location. For example, it shows fl ying in the special fl ight rules area around Washington, D.C. is prohibited. Nice to see the FAA using such an app to proactively assist operators with avoiding problems, rather than simply trying to punish those who do. A notable industry-led eff ort is by
the AMA. In 2015 it teamed up with retailer Best Buy to display safety information on store shelves and store receipts of drone purchases. In addition, Best Buy off ers one-year AMA memberships for purchase. AMA’s decades of experience demonstrate that an education- focused and community-based approach is the best way to manage recreational fl yers.
CONCLUSION How you feel about drones and the incidents that they are involved in could depend heavily upon which side of the argument that you fall
upon. One conclusion that everyone can agree upon is that more needs to be done to protect the general public from unabated drone operators. It is easy to cast doubt upon all
drone users, but it is far from fair. It is also much easier to assign blame to the FAA for its long-delayed regulatory stance and lack of clear guidelines, for not only helping create a Wild West-type of behavior for so many years, but also for hampering the entire emerging market while the rest of the world passed us by. People are using drones selfi shly in ways they know are not proper,
because they can. There is no way to police all of the drone usage by those who clearly violate laws by operating near an airport, over a festival, around a college stadium, etc., to get enviable footage from a perspective no one else can. These people, and the realtors or reporters who fl y a drone for a competitive edge or fi nancial gain, without proper certifi cations and etiquette, are the ones who threaten to ruin the privilege of private citizens using this new technology. No one has ever complained that a parent shouldn’t be allowed to fi lm their child’s birthday party on private land.
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DOMmagazine.com | may 2016
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