Send in the drones
By Mary Lochner Anchorage Press
Greg Walker is Alaska’s drone man.
When the U.S. Coast Guard flew war drones in 2003 and 2004 out of King Salmon to test them for maritime border monitoring, Walker was there. When BP wanted to know if unmanned aircraft could identify oil spill contamination, it went to Walker. When fishermen fighting closures wanted to use drones to get more accurate seal population counts, Walker was their man.
Oil companies, survey companies, biologists, government agencies: they all come to Walker’s Unmanned Aircraft Applications Program at University of Alaska Fairbanks to try out their drones.
That’s due to the team’s expertise in testing drones for non-military uses. But it’s also because some of the groups aren’t allowed to fly drones themselves.
Under Federal Aviation Administration rules, only certain organizations, such as government agencies and universities, are allowed to operate unmanned aircraft, called unmanned aerial systems (UAS) by the federal government. Anyone else wanting to try the wings or rotors of a drone has to lease it to an authorized user. And even then, with few exceptions, approved drone operators have to get permission from the FAA each time they fly.
