The Robots Are Coming

          In recent years, there has been a growing number of Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAV), also known as drones being developed. The military has been the main investor into developing a reliable and efficient way to use the UAVs. Now UAVs are being strongly considered as a option for civilian use. This has led to much discussion about the future of pilots and how it might affect our careers and the future of aviation. I feel that with recent development, UAVs will be used in the civilian world, but in ways that will not overtake what has been already established for the airlines. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done before we see drones flying over on a daily basis. One area is integrating UAVs in to the air system that exist so that all participants will be able to conduct safe flight. Another concern for the movement to UAVs is the regulatory process for the pilots and the manufactures.

            The most difficult challenge is integrating drones into the National Airspace System that has already been established, maintaining a high level of safety and providing situational awareness for everyone in the sky. Congress has given the FAA a deadline to come up with a system to integrate drones so they will be able to use and access airspace by 2015. This is not a light task and will require much work because of the current system that is in place and not all aircraft are equipped with the appropriate technologies. To assist the FAA, NASA has given input on the matter and has developed a two part process. Part 1 begins with a selected area where UAVs can participate. In this area they will be able to to research and study ways to improve ground based equipment and find ways they can manage drone traffic. Part 2 will be more focused on the aircraft, studying the best options for collision avoidance to maintain appropriate separation (Adams, 2013). These two phases will cover both air traffic control issues and air traffic issues, however, this is only a tested and controlled situation. During these times they will have competitors testing and proving their navigation and awareness systems, to see who's system can work the most accurately and reliable.

            One issue that will need to be configured better is finding ways to make the ground control stations efficient in range and still provide the safety if something were to go wrong with a link or a connection. Many of these drones will be able to fly on preprogrammed routes with little assistance needed by a human, this presents its own issues if something were to go wrong. These system thresholds and minimums must have small tolerances to ensure the safety of other people in the air and civilians on the ground. Domestic airspace accommodates more than 70,000 flights per day... The risk of collision between these users and unmanned aircraft must be adequately mitigated before unmanned aircraft can routinely utilize the national airspace system. An emerging technology, Automated Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) will be required on manned aircraft by 2020 and will serve as the principal means for aircraft tracking under NextGen (Elias, 2012). ADS-B could lead as a foundation for sensing and avoiding that is a requirement for the drones in the civilian market as a safety measure, however, at the time there is not a technology that can do this and will most likely have to have multiple systems to allow this to happen within a reasonable standard. Another challenge is protecting property and people on the ground in the event of an emergency. Much of the work that drones have been used for has been in sparsely populated areas and in the event of a crash the chance of harm to others is significantly small. With smaller and lower flying drones more challenges exist because of buildings, towers, and lower flying aircraft that might not have the technology to detect other traffic. These lower flying drones is causing a stir in the civilian world with a concern in breach of privacy. Jeff Nesbit made mention to the growing number of people that are concerned that drones could "invade our privacy to the promise that drones and UAVs could represent a serious, new industry as dozens of companies develop more than 150 new drone and UAV systems for all sorts of uses in America." Legislators have introduce a bill that would limit the amount of drone use, however, this was just a reaction to the public that will only stand for a short time after the introduction of drones. Some programs have backed out of the drone market because of the outcries in the public. As of right now, the beginning plans would be to use drones for boarder control and customs, to fly the boarders for surveillance. On the other hand, Nesbit also makes reference to a study that is done by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), stating that with the development of these drones it would create tens of thousands of jobs and could see $6 billion dollars in projected sales just in the US alone (Nesbit, 2013).

            Many drones used today are unmanned in the sense that there are no humans inside operating the aircraft, they are on a ground controlling station. There is still human interaction with the drones and they can be completely controlled by a human on the ground. Human performance considerations are critical in the design of unmanned aircraft systems, as it is in aircraft systems today. A large area of concern is the training requirements and the needed minimums in flight operation and time. Bart Elias believes "the appropriate training and qualifications may depend in part on the size of the aircraft and the complexity of the system, as a 'one size fits all' approach may be inappropriate given the diversity among vehicles, systems, and operational missions." The Air Force is the only service that requires the pilots of the drones are pilot rated officers, though all other services do not require a pilot rated person to operate the drones and does not have specific training required to control these drones (Elias, 2012). Alan Palmer, a director in the University of North Dakota flight program as well as the development of a UAV program, believes operation of smaller vehicles that can perform their roles safely and efficiently below 400 feet will likely remain clear of the requirement for FAA certification, due to the lack of air traffic at those altitudes. Palmer also believes that requirements will be the same for flights that will operate above 18,000 feet will require pilots of the drones to carry a instrument rating (Glenn, 2013). Most of the systems that are used for the drones are complex and are considerably different from one another, the FAA might have to issue required type certificates for each individual drones. The FAA might also require the operators of the civilian drones to be certificated pilots. Another area that has not been set is the medical requirements for the pilots of the drones. Will they need to have the same requirements as a pilot or will the requirements be less because they are not in the air and on the ground making the requirements not as stringent? As of right now there are no requirements or regulations that are set for training requirements and operation requirements.

            With many advancements to technology within recent years, it still might not be enough to ensure the safety that will be needed for drone operation for civilians. There is still work to be done, not only for the drone development, but for the regulatory side of the operation. Both sides must make considerable improvements before the deadline in 2015 if drones will have a significant role in the aviation industry. I believe that it will be many years before humans will trust them for air travel and cargo air transportation, on the other hand, I see drones as strong candidates for broader control, police forces, aerial surveillance, aerial mapping, or gas line monitoring. We will have a wait and see approach for the use of UAVs and how largely it affects the aviation industry.

References

Adams, Charlotte (2013, August 1). Avionics Magazine: Integrating UAS in the NAS. Retrieved             October 4, 2013, from http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/military/Integrating-UAS-in-the-NAS_79730.html#.Uk8a_TK9KSM

Elias, Bart (2012, September 10). Pilotless Drones: Background and Considerations for Congress             Regarding Unmanned Aircraft Operations in the National Airspace System. Retrieved                        October 4, 2013, from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42718.pdf

Nesbit, Jeff (2013, April 25). Rapid Rise of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles | Privacy Aircraft UAV.               LiveScience. Online. Retrieved October 4, 2013, from http://www.livescience.com/29069-us-drones.html

Pew, Glenn (2013, April 26). The Drones Are Coming: Who Will Fly Them? AVweb Feature                   Article. Retrieved October 5, 2013, from http://www.avweb.com/news/avtraining/                          drone_pilot_training_forecast_uas_208586-1.html