flight. Not only that, we know how to fly all kinds of rotorcraft and therefore have insights into some of the challenges that will confront DROPs. After all, who knows low-altitude airspace better than helicopter pilots?
There’s no conference room in Washington big enough to hold all of us. Inevitably, our voices will be heard through our association representatives who regularly
participate
in the political process. We can shape their input through both casual conversation and more formal communication, in blog contributions, and through comments on the NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making).
Actually the timetable set up by the U.S.
Congress in the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act is a pretty good one, if the FAA would only stick to it. It calls for the release of an NPRM now (It’s about a year late already.) with final rules for commercial microdrones by, say, mid-2015. But merely hurrying is hardly sound policy. What should be the content of microdrone rules? Shaping the content represents the second way that helicopter pilots and operators can help de- termine their futures.
Some aspects of a gradually forming consensus are sound. Most fundamentally, microdrones should be confined to certain spaces where they are less likely to encounter manned aircraft. How should these spaces be defined, and how can we make certain that microdrone DROPs will be able to control their microdrones and keep them there? That depends on the content of specific rules in the three traditional categories of aviation regulation: flight rules, airmen certification, and aircraft certification.
FLIGHT RULES
Let’s start with flight rules, and then con- sider how airmen and aircraft requirements can reinforce them. First, routine microdrone flight should be allowed only below 400 feet AGL, and only outside class B, C, or D airspace. Most of the time, most airplanes and helicopters do not fly below 500 feet AGL unless they are landing or taking off.
rotorcraftpro.com 39
Tactical Electronics RAPTR UAS Photo
Thirty minutes earlier the sky was swirling with everything but hope.
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