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Drones for sale, but not commercial use

Moscow-Pullman Daily News (ID) - 11/20/2014

Nov. 20--You can buy them, but you can't fly them, Brad Ward, vice president of research and development at Advanced Aviation Solutions LLC told drone enthusiasts Wednesday at the University of Idaho.

Ward, an Air Force veteran, has more than 11 years of experience in drone operations and policy.

At AAS, he is working to get Federal Aviation Administration authorization to operate small drones for commercial agriculture.

Ward introduced several drones -- varying in size from 1 1/2 pounds to 8 tons -- describing their costs, availability, capabilities and uses in agriculture to his listeners before turning to the spider web of legalities surrounding their use.

While all could be called unmanned aircraft systems or drones, the names can describe some very different aircraft, he said.

"One is 16,000 pounds, flies over 50,000 feet for 32 hours and is very large, bigger than a 737," Ward said. "The other is 1 1/2 pounds, you literally shake it three times and the motor starts and you're ready to go."

Ward said unfortunately, the poor reputation of the military drone has been applied to the tiny crafts with various commercial uses.

"And that's where the FAA came in," he said.

Most unmanned aircraft cannot be used as intended at this point -- unless their purpose is recreation.

According to FAA guidelines, as long as the craft weighs fewer than 55 pounds, flies fewer than 400 feet in altitude, avoids airports and is flown for personal pleasure, few regulations apply.

Even so, the list of "Don'ts" is longer than "Dos" on the FAA website.

And the list has not been updated since Monday, when a National Transportation Safety Board judge ruled the FAA has the right to regulate drone flights.

The administration announced in 2013 it was preparing a set of rules concerning unmanned craft, but they are not yet in evidence.

Regardless of current questions, Ward is confident drones will have a secure place in agriculture.

His company specializes in the aerospace application of remotely piloted aircraft.

Currently used in environmental research, such as river erosion and fire tracking, Ward said the miniature aircraft will gather data that can be used for farm work.

"Ultimately, this is going to end up on a thumb drive in a farmer's tractor as a prescription for seeding rates, fertilizer application rates, spraying rates," he said.

Ward's talk was part of the University of Idaho's Geographic Information Systems Day, which is the local portion of a worldwide event that began in 1999.

"Our local event is an opportunity for those in our region who are interested in geospatial technologies to get together and discuss their uses," Bruce Godfrey said.

Godfrey is a GIS Specialist at the University of Idaho Library, which planned the annual event.

Shanon Quinn can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to squinn@dnews.com.

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(c)2014 the Moscow-Pullman Daily News (Moscow, Idaho)

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