FAA Information
There is no shortage of folks saying the FAA has sold out and is out out get us. From my perspective, having worked WITH the FAA for the past three years to help them resolve this difficult issue, They are not against anyone or any group. I have provided substantial data to the FAA over and above the Concept of Operations that a lot of others have provided. I am now working to provide more useful information in support of the upcoming ARC.
The FAA needs data, real, actual, live data to show that our type of operations are not dangerous. Many of us have collected very useful data in the form of photograph files from out sorties. I have 11,000 photographs in my archive and at an average 25 photos per sortie that equates to 480 incident free sorties. All my photographs are the result of "recreational" flying because I am not allowed to do this commercially. I would expect all your files to be "recreational" too.
What I need is information on the:
Time period:
Number of sorties:
Incident data: (This is incidents which could have resulted in a dangerous situation involving people or property. Just crashing your airplane is not an incident. Loosing it and not knowing where it came down is an incident.)
Aircraft type:
Name of aircraft:
Aircraft specifications: (Include modificatins to stock aircraft.)
Operational environment: (Urban or Rural.
________________________________________
In my case this is the data:
Time period: May 2003 to present.
Number of sorties: 480 (11.000 photographs at 25 photos per sortie.)
Incident data: None.
Aircraft type: Slow Stick.
Aircraft specifications: Brushless motor.
Operatinal environment: 90% Urban, 10% Rural.
_______________________________________
No identification data will be provided to the FAA. I will use Operator A, B, etc. This data will be provided to the FAA SUAS Program Office and will be used in support of the ARC and in briefings to their management to support our cause.
Some solks will try to make this out to be something bad but it is an honest effort and an opportunity for everyone to do something positive for a change instead of just bellyache and jawbone about what the FAA is doing to us.
Regards, John Zaner
Zaner Aviation, LLC
www.zaneraviation.com
The FAA needs data, real, actual, live data to show that our type of operations are not dangerous. Many of us have collected very useful data in the form of photograph files from out sorties. I have 11,000 photographs in my archive and at an average 25 photos per sortie that equates to 480 incident free sorties. All my photographs are the result of "recreational" flying because I am not allowed to do this commercially. I would expect all your files to be "recreational" too.
What I need is information on the:
Time period:
Number of sorties:
Incident data: (This is incidents which could have resulted in a dangerous situation involving people or property. Just crashing your airplane is not an incident. Loosing it and not knowing where it came down is an incident.)
Aircraft type:
Name of aircraft:
Aircraft specifications: (Include modificatins to stock aircraft.)
Operational environment: (Urban or Rural.
________________________________________
In my case this is the data:
Time period: May 2003 to present.
Number of sorties: 480 (11.000 photographs at 25 photos per sortie.)
Incident data: None.
Aircraft type: Slow Stick.
Aircraft specifications: Brushless motor.
Operatinal environment: 90% Urban, 10% Rural.
_______________________________________
No identification data will be provided to the FAA. I will use Operator A, B, etc. This data will be provided to the FAA SUAS Program Office and will be used in support of the ARC and in briefings to their management to support our cause.
Some solks will try to make this out to be something bad but it is an honest effort and an opportunity for everyone to do something positive for a change instead of just bellyache and jawbone about what the FAA is doing to us.
Regards, John Zaner
Zaner Aviation, LLC
www.zaneraviation.com
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Daniel Paulson on -
Time period: June 2005 to present
Number of sorties: Unknown. Air vehicle has accumulated 2,315 miles as of March 2008.
Incident data: No incidents
Aircraft type: Fixed wing twin tail boom pusher configuration.
Name of aircraft: Pegasus1
Aircraft specifications: 104" span fixed wing. 72 inches long. 32cc gasoline engine powered. 20 pounds flight weight.
Operational environment: Rural to remote.
-
Permalink Reply by John Zaner on
-
Hello Dan,
I have been trying to get in touch with you but don't have a good phone number. Get my email off my website and send a message please.
Regards, John
-
Permalink Reply by Daniel Paulson on
-
email sent John.
Dan
-
Permalink Reply by Frank Cates on
-
John, has there been any discussion of what information they will want logged and reported on a per flight basis? Given they are headed towards regulations, I am sure these will include some form of documentation on the part of the operators.
-
Permalink Reply by LoopZilla on -
Hi John,
I have quite a bit of information that may interest you. I have flight data from all of our civil and military flights over the past 4 years, including most of the disaster scenarios in the US. Several different platforms and several different control system types. I would venture to say we have over 3000 logged flights with only a few incidents.
There is also a document I may can dig up that sums all of the US Air Force UAV activity, in broad scope. I recall it contains data on the number of sorties, incidents, failures, maintenance records & intervals, etc.
There are several entities doing precisely what you are attempting to do in collecting information on the successes and failures of UAVs in the Civil, commercial, and industrial segments. I know several academic entities are doing it in the attempt to set up their own restricted airspace under FAA COAs.
On the same topic, there is a new privately owned test facility in the works here in the US. I am a small part of that group, and we will soon be requesting individuals to come out and fly their wares in a restricted airspace while we collect the same data you are requesting. The edge is that it is indeed restricted airspace, under military and FAA agreements, and we will be able to control the data collection.
Chandler Griffin
-
Permalink Reply by LoopZilla on
-
Frank,
You can expect to be required to show maintenance logs and intervals, flight data, flight demographics (population density, weather, location, etc.), equipment procurement, etc, etc, etc. As far as we know now, you may be required to show you have passed the written portion of a Private Pilot's license, and successfully passed a medical.
All of these have been discussed to death by all of the entities working with the FAA to gain some sort of certification and classification process. As of right now, I'm not sure where it stands any more.
Chandler
-
-
Thanks Chandler, the documentation side sounds reasonable. While everyone else here has a vested interest in keeping up with this information, I have an additional interest. I am a programmer by trade and am about three quarters of the way through a program that is geared towards photography management for AP and UAV operations. I am currently working on the section that will cover scheduled maintenance for the equipment based on usage. The more info I have concerning the expected regulations the more complete I can make my program. I will include logging for the equipment and separate logging for the operators. Any information you want to send my way will be appreciated.
-
Permalink Reply by LoopZilla on
-
Frank,
How may l contact you? I would like to discuss your project in more detail...
-
-
I don't see a way to do private messages on this site, if I email your website will that work? I see you are in Melbourne, I am across the state in Bradenton.
-
-
Well, I have been looking at the documentation released by the FAA over the last few weeks and I am concerned. John, could you tell us if it will be legal to use: a slow stick, with an rc system controlling it, lifting a Pentax Optio camera, for the purpose of photographing a house that is for sale? I don't yet see where that will be legal under the new FAA guidelines, or have I just not seen the right paragraph? The purpose of this flight would be commercial, for profit. Could you show me where in the documents I could legally make that flight?
-
ModeratorPermalink Reply by Jack Crossfire on -
The FAA released an updated PDF. It's sufficiently complicated to make sure no-one has any idea what the law is. The idea seems to be don't do anything stupid.
http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/uas/reg/media...
-
-
Jack, this document is one of the reasons I ask the question. What they are describing in this document is far beyond the scope of what most people are using for AP and even beyond what most people in this site are using. There is no mention of regulating only autonomous airframes, which I could see as a valid concern on their part. There is also no distinction for the very small, lightweight airframes that typically never get above 400 feet agl. One of the definitions I saw for uav was basically any unmanned untethered airframe that leaves the ground. Regardless of size or complexity, regardless of where flown and regardless of altitude. It then goes on to say that these airframes can not be used for commercial purposes. The opening of this thread says the FAA is not 'out to get us', but from where I am sitting they are declaring everything we have been doing to be illegal. If I could get some kind of specific answer that an rc slow stick with a camera flying at 98 feet to take a picture of house will not be a violation of federal decree I would sleep a bit better. Some of the group here have got substantial financial investments that appear to be at risk to an arbitrary decree from a government agency.
Contests
Season Two of the Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest has now begun. The third round was a reliablilty/aerial photography round for both planes and copters, which is now closed. Stay tuned for the next round, beginning soon.A list of all T3 contests is here.
Top Content
Groups
-
DIYDrones - CNC Project
51 members
-
Moderators
58 members
-
Telemetry over cellular …
67 members
-
German Ardu-Group
41 members
-
UK Ardupilot Group
26 members
© 2012 Created by Chris Anderson.
