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Cover Story


rules allow commercial operators, who are at least 16 years of age, to obtain a remote pilot airman certificate to fly drones. To obtain a certificate, Watkins


Daryl Watkins of Creative Dog Media prepares to launch one of his drones from Great Shiplock Park in Richmond.


passed a required aeronautical test, which included questions on subjects ranging from visual sight charts to the definition of frost. He was so eager, in fact, that he took the exam the day after the rules came into effect. The new rules are expected to spur


dramatic growth in the drone industry. In the six weeks after Part 107 came out, 8,975 people had taken the pilot certi- fication test nationwide, and 88 percent had passed. Virginia officials and a group of


businesses interested in the use of unmanned systems say the common- wealth has the attributes to be a leader in this emerging technology — not only in drones but in driverless vehicles and unmanned maritime vehicles. Virginia touts a diverse topography, a large mili- tary presence, proximity to Washington, D.C., and ongoing higher-education research on unmanned systems. To cre- ate a unified voice for users of unmanned systems in Virginia, industry representa- tives recently formed a trade association. The growth in unmanned systems


represents nothing less than the next big revolution, says U.S. Sen. Mark Warner. “This is an area where with the right vision and the right execution, we can be the Silicon Valley of unmanned systems,” he says. For Warner, a co-founder of Nextel


Until late August, however, he wasn’t


flying his own drones for commercial jobs, even though he’d received an exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allowing him to fly for commercial purposes. Because the FAA defined drones as an aircraft, the agency required them to be operated by a pilot for com- mercial use. “I would get these jobs from [clients] and I’d have to hire a pilot,” he


20 NOVEMBER 2016


says. “It took away the Daryl Watkins spin and the Daryl Watkins touch.” It also took a chunk of his revenue


from those jobs. That all changed this summer. The


FAA issued long-awaited regulations governing commercial drones — offi- cially known as small unmanned aircraft systems or UAS — weighing less than 55 pounds. Known as Part 107, the


Communications, unmanned systems provide the same potential that the cellphone industry did 30 years ago. “If I were to start again, this would have been one of the sectors I would have person- ally pursued,” says Warner, who played a critical role in securing an FAA test site for drones at Virginia Tech in a partner- ship with Maryland. “The technology and the desire for people to use these services is going to happen a lot quicker than most people expect.” The potential uses of unmanned


systems seem endless. Today drones inspect power stations and buildings. They create detailed maps. Health systems are looking at using unmanned systems to move medications and other


Photo by Mark Rhodes


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