Will Hollywood be the straw?

In a few hours time the FAA have to either approve or deny the Motion Picture Association of Americas (MPAA) Section 333 request.

The MPAA, filed a petition on behalf of seven aerial production companies — Aerial MOB, Astraeus Aerial, Flying-Cam, HeliVideo Productions, Pictorvision, Vortex Aerial and Snaproll Media — asking for a regulatory exemption to allow for the domestic use of unmanned aircraft systems by the motion picture and television industry.

It would seem very likely that they will get the green light. Hollywood is well heeled and well connected. The FAA certainly will not be able to let this deadline pass with nobody making a fuss if nothing happens.

Speaking at sUSB Expo earlier this year the man from the FAA, Jim Williams said that,

“The film industry has a tremendous interest in using unmanned aircraft  historically filmmakers have hired helicopters and airplanes for overhead shots this can get expensive and it is dangerous you can create extra noise and wind on set but these issues become could become irrelevant with the use of unmanned aircraft on closed sets.”

My money is on the FAA allowing Hollywood to jump onto the COA bandwagon establishing restricted airspace around closed sets.

It will be shouted from the roof tops and the press will go wild.

This will not help precision agriculture, search and rescue or realtors.

Or maybe it will.

Should Hollywood prevail the drones they use would have to jump through some sort of airworthy hoops. Systems being used by that other well connected well heeled group the oil industry are being allowed because of military surplus rules.

There are no military surplus Red Epic carrying RPAS.

I don’t believe there are any DoD vendors that could make a Hollywood Drone and sell it for the sort of price Uncle Sam has been willing to pay for military systems in the past, even small ones. Hollywood might be able to afford them but they want cutting edge.

The work of ASTM F-38 the airworthy standards committee in the USA is peppered with requirements that would help legacy DoD vendors. Military manual standards as just one example.

Hollywood might be wanting to use professional systems that have already met European airworthy or exemption requirements. Systems already being used by European film makers. Or home grown systems that have never been through the military supply chain.

If the FAA lets Hollywood skip past ASTM F-38 and the military surplus rule it might do everybody a favour when more widespread commercial RPAS regulations finally happen.

The FAA surely would never let American vendors in the right place at the right time get a leap ahead of their competitors and move the goalposts when wider adoption takes place?

Will it be Hooray for Hollywood? Only one more sleep and we will know.