First commercial drone flights over land are approved by FAA
Source: Washington Post
The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday that it has granted the first permission for commercial drone flights over land, the latest effort by the agency to show that it is loosening restrictions on commercial uses of the unmanned aircraft.
Drone-maker AeroVironment of Monrovia, Calif., and the energy corporation BP have been given permission to use a Puma drone to survey pipelines, roads and equipment at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, the agency said. The first flight took place Sunday.
Made by AeroVironment, the Puma is a small, hand-launched craft about 41 / 2 feet long and with a nine-foot wingspan. It was initially designed for military use.
Drones are often less expensive to operate than manned aircraft and easier to maneuver. Equipped with 3D cameras, the Puma will provide images, currently unavailable, of hard-to-reach places, BP and AeroVironment say.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/first-commercial-drone-flights-over-land-are-approved-by-faa/2014/06/10/5b08c5ca-f0e0-11e3-9ebc-2ee6f81ed217_story.html
Demeter
(85,373 posts)We could easily wait another 300 years for such an invasion of privacy.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)fasttense
(17,301 posts)Now what can go wrong?
mainer
(12,018 posts)What I posted on a dupe thread:
Drones are excellent tools for:
Aerial photos of real estate, for realty listings.
Videography by filmmakers.
Wedding/event photography.
Surveys of farmland (it helps to identify wet areas in cornfields from the air.)
I've seen small plastic drones that are only about two feet in diameter, and when mounted with Go-Pro cameras, they can easily replace helicopter photography. It gives you amazing image quality.
As for noncommercial use, they are great for search and rescue.
They are not just about spying; they are also for hobbyists and photographers.
It's not about the tool; it's about how it's used.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)You could mount cameras on them from almost the get go.
I guess if you slap the name "drone" onto them they sound worse.