11 The You In UAV Digest

This Episode:The “drone” word, a Cathedral view by quadcopter, Australia’s CASA regs on UAS, Trappy in trouble, a UAV Challenge, a must-see video of autonomous flying, and bad uses of UAVs, all from the listener mailbag.The News:We Are Not Drones Pilots: sensor operators put human element in RPA operationsCapt. Blain, a 29th Attack Squadron MQ-9 Reaper instructor pilot assigned to Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, cringes at the term “drone” because it implies no human piloting. He prefers “remotely piloted” because there is a pilot, a sensor operator, tactical intelligence, and a ground commander involved.Listener Mail:Parker recorded Highland Cathedral (Performed and filmed at Fish Church, Stamford Ct.) with his UAS hexacopter.Ben Jones notes that CASA in Australia is being proactive with UAS and sends some CASA links:Unmanned aircraft systems – You are a UAS operator if you conduct air work – this includes commercial tasks (hire and reward), demonstrations, training, R&D, flying for company internal purposes, etc.Differences between UAS and model aircraft details the distinction in terms of aircraft use, certification and license, where you can fly, and visual conditions.List of CASA approved UAS operators in Australia, showing company, location, and type of operations. Currently about sixty operators are listed.CASA Part 101 Unmanned Aircraft and rocket operations. CASA Part 101 consolidates the rules that govern unmanned aeronautical activities into one body of legislation. It was drafted nearly 10 years ago.On our Facebook page, Ben posted a link to “Trappy versus the FAA (an opinion-piece rant)” on YouTube. This was recorded by XJet. “Trappy” is Raphael Pirker from Team Blacksheep who does First Person Video (FPV). Rafael received a $10,000 fine from the FAA for flying his drone for money “in a careless or reckless manner,” reportedly close to civilians, structures, even through a tunnel with moving cars.Listener Ben is also thinking about entering the UAV Challenge, specifically the Search and Rescue contest, which is designed “to demonstrate the utility of Unmanned Airborne Vehicles (UAVs) for civilian applications. The competitors will be required to develop a UAV that could save lives by quickly and cost effectively delivering medical supplies to critically ill patients in the Australian Outback.”Steve in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is building a quad copter to be equipped with a Gopro camera. He intends to start off flying it RC, but he’s already thinking about how to make it fly autonomously. Steve sends a link to an amazing TED talk and demonstration, “The astounding athletic power of quadcopters“ by roboticist Raffaello D’Andrea.Micah asks, “how long before UAS technology is used in an attack against the USA?” Cat notes that the positive possibilities of UAV’s always push hard against concerns of misuse and loss of privacy.Tony sent a link to Mystery drone collides with Sydney Harbour Bridge which reports that a quadcopter crashed into the Bridge and triggered a terrorism alert.