Officials rethink Drone regulations
Jeff Montgomery, The News Journal
Up in the sky, it’s not a bird. It’s not a plane. It may be an unmanned drone flying over a crowd at a football game or some other event. And that has state officials thinking twice.
“We have Punkin’ Chunkin’ coming up. We have NASCAR coming up. Will they be seen there? I’m not sure,” said Dwyane Day, DelDOT homeland security planner. “Last year at Punkin’ Chunkin’ we saw the first DJI Phantom [drone]. I know they’re out there.”
A Homeland Security panel, made up of representatives from different state agencies, is drafting new state rules for small unmanned aerial vehicles, as drone flights multiply and as private and commercial users wait for federal rules.
Delaware Homeland Security Advisory Council members waded through rough drafts of regulations for state agency use of the drones last week, along with a summary of current limits on both private and commercial operation of the devices.
“One of the main reasons this committee was formed was to look at this kind of thing, and to look at how the bad guys are going to be using it,” Day said.
Technology and markets for making and using drones have moved far faster than regulators. Day said that drones have been seen buzzing around the University of Delaware campus, evidence that prices for even the more-sophisticated, popular video-equipped rigs have fallen to around $1,000, within reach of some students, as well as researchers and businesses.
“There are quite a few out there. That’s why this class came up,” said Redefer, who has plenty of prospective business uses for his two drones but now confines flights to no-charge activities, often for charitable groups. “I’m kind of excited. There were several people I knew who bought them and were intimidated by the package, what they have and how to begin.”
Last month, a camera-mounted drone helped document activities at a federally funded hazardous material training exercise near Delaware City.
Drone flights that contribute to any commercial, money-making purpose are barred outside Alaska by the Federal Aviation Administration. Draft FAA rules for commercial use of small drones are due for release in November.
Hobbyists and model-makers are limited to 55-pound or lighter drones, and can only fly below 400 feet, within the line of sight of operators and at least five miles from any airport, among other restrictions. One highly capable and popular model has a takeoff weight of about 2.2 pounds without camera.
New Jersey Institute of Technology, along with the state’s homeland security and emergency management agencies, will begin testing a much larger drone cousin. The FAA granted NJIT a waiver to test a remotely piloted “unmanned aircraft system” with a nearly 13-foot wingspan, under a program that will begin flights in November from an airstrip at the the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey, near the mouth of Delaware Bay.
Researchers at UD are exploring the other extreme under a Sandia National Laboratories-sponsored effort involving the coding and calculations needed to control swarms of palm-sized or smaller drones operating under a shared mission.
Although commercial uses are banned, operators are ignoring or skirting the law for everything from real estate surveys and aerial photography to private detective work and an array of advertizing schemes.
“People are buying them. They don’t know what the rules are and they don’t know where to find them,” said Robert Newnam, Delaware State Fire School director.
Newnam said planners need to be clear about where aircraft can and cannot go, including the sizes of crowds that might become off limits.
“There is a great deal of impatience,” Redefer said. “The commercial use aspects of this technology is unlimited, and they just need to wrap their heads around how they can begin to set the rules.”
Col. Dallas Wingate, Delaware National Guard director of military support, said during the Homeland Security Advisory Council meeting that aircraft need to carry markings that identify their owners. He also said that existing laws on offenses like invasion of privacy or trespassing could apply to troubling uses of drones.
“As the technology improves, we’re going to see other things we didn’t contemplate,” Wingate said.
Newnam said that the spread of drone use is likely to fuel differences of opinion on everything from privacy rights to hunting courtesy.
“What is our expectation of privacy on places like the Boardwalk, where every person can take your picture now,” Newnam said.
Day said the advisory panel was focusing on rules and requirements for uses by government agencies, but “we also need to look at commercial aspects, without hindering hobbyists or private users.
“We need to look at the rules of the road and make sure we’re not hindering the commercial growth of it here in the state, but making sure UAVs are used safely, used by public agencies to protect the citizens of Delaware and make sure citizens aren’t abusing them, and making sure that privacy concerns are looked at.”
Redefer said that he has been flying radio-controlled aircraft since he was a child, and wants to be on “the front lines” as the technology emerges and matures.
“The quadcopters have advanced so far and the safety is really much better,” Redefer said, noting that some involved are seeking ways to make all drones automatically avoid no-fly zones.
“It won’t be long at all that this is going to be a regular part of our lives.”
