Changes to aviation laws will give media more freedom to use drones for newsgathering
Proposed changes to Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) rules will soon make it easier for media organisations to use small remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), better known as drones, for newsgathering.
But the ABC will tightly control their use to ensure they are operated in a safe way and that privacy is respected.
During his 15 years on the road for the ABC‘s Foreign Correspondent program, award winning journalist Mark Corcoran reported from many of the world’s hot spots, covering wars, civil unrest, and disasters.
In 2006, when filming in a bomb-ravaged Beirut street during a lull in air strikes, an Israeli military targeting drone with a camera attached flew overhead.
This got Corcoran thinking about the potential of drones as a newsgathering tool, particularly for news teams working on high-risk assignments in dangerous places.
Fast forward to 2014 and a video produced by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) of its Ebola Management Centre in Liberia, in which the camera swoops over and around workers in biohazard suits and tents housing patients, is a powerful example of how small drones could be used to film vision and get pictures when journalists or camera crews cannot risk getting too close to the action.
Corcoran has done extensive research into “drone journalism” and now heads an ABC project to develop and regulate the corporation’s use of drones.
“This technology is a wonderful tool for seeing what’s around the corner or over the hill when there may be a threat to your safety,” Corcoran said.
“When covering a natural disaster, quite often your line of sight is limited by debris and this gives you the opportunity to look beyond that – is the bridge around the hill still intact? Do you have an exit route?”
In 2006, RPAs were too big, too expensive, and too complicated to fly to be seriously considered by news organisations.
But now good quality video can be captured with small, simple, but highly capable machines, purchased from a hobby or camera shop for several hundred dollars.
ABC develops drone training course for camera operators
While all RPAs are subject to CASA rules, a proposed change in licensing for small “low risk” craft weighing less than two kilograms will make it easier for media organisations to use them for newsgathering and film-making in some areas.
But the national broadcaster is determined that they be operated responsibly and has developed an innovative training course for camera operators working on its news and current affairs programs who work domestically and are also often deployed overseas.
“I think this is the first time, certainly in Australia, that this kind of internal training has been conducted for RPAs that weigh less than two kilograms and the ABC has a responsibility here as the nation’s largest broadcaster,” Corcoran said.
“This is a terrific technology that has a lot of applications for newsgathering, current affairs film-making, for documentaries – as long as it is conducted in a safe way and that privacy is respected.”
The three-day course covers air safety rules, editorial policies on respecting privacy, and hands on lessons on how to fly and film with small modified Phantom2 RPAs with attached GoPro cameras bought by the ABC.
The field training is provided by experienced instructors from Coptercam, a CASA-licensed commercial operator which has done previous RPA filming for ABC programs and outside broadcasts.
“It’s about ensuring that no-one gets hurt and not colliding with other aircraft. A lot of people look at this as a flying smart phone – they don’t look at it as an aviation activity but it is,” Corcoran said.
Privacy concerns and ABC ethical guidelines
The initial development of RPAs as a surveillance technology has sparked concerns about intrusions on privacy, but Corcoran stresses that they are governed by the same ABC editorial policies that apply to all current filming operations.
“We already have the ability to theoretically impinge on people’s privacy with helicopters that can record good imagery more than a kilometre away from the subject, or with the powerful lenses we use on standard news cameras,” he said.
“We don’t do that because of the editorial controls and I see that applying to the use of RPAs.”
Small RPAs can be used effectively to show the scale of a news event, such as floods or a country landscape, and have previously featured in the ABC broadcasts of this year’s Australia Day flag raising ceremony in Canberra, on international assignments by ABC current affairs program Four Corners, and in a series of reports by the ABC’s London bureau leading up to this year’s Anzac Day commemorations at Gallipoli.
But there are also assignments where drones should not be used.
The ABC will ban staff and external RPA contractors from launching small drones over bushfires as the high winds generated, low visibility created by smoke, and low-flying water bombing aircraft present unacceptable risks.
Exciting potential and limitations
After completing the training course, senior camera operator Ron Ekkel, a veteran of many international news and current affairs assignments, could see plenty of potential for filming.
“It’s a fantastic reveal tool if you want to reveal a big space, a reporter’s piece to camera, and you want to show the location they are at,” Mr Ekkel said.
“You can go from ground level up really high, or get great tracking shots, walking with people, or through trees.”
But there are limitations.
CASA’s rules prevent sub-two-kilogram RPAs from being flown within 5.5 kilometres of an airport or aerodrome; at night; within 30 metres of people; or directly over the top of populous areas such as crowded parks and beaches.
Operators must keep them below 121 metres and always within line of sight.
Corcoran said those restrictions and proposed new rules banning filming near helipads mean most metropolitan areas will be off limits.
“I think initially for the ABC, the potential will be immediately realised within rural and regional areas, where we don’t have the population density and don’t have the air traffic,” he said.
The ABC will tightly control staff use of sub-two-kilogram RPAs and the hiring of external CASA-approved operators for more complex filming assignments, particularly in cities.
“I advocate a fairly conservative approach when starting out,” Corcoran said.
“This training is the first step. It’s about understanding what you can do and the limitations, after that it’s all about practice time on the controls.
“It’s relatively easy to learn how to fly, but to do it properly for our purposes is difficult to master.”
