Finally, some good drones news....
 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/11/us/wea...cue/index.html

instead of the usual drone pilot does it again :D

Great news! There was another one the other day where someone was using a DJI to survey damage to roofs and structures in Daytona Beach, at the request of the local govt. I think we're going to see more and more use of these things in search and rescue, recovery, damage assessment etc etc that help save lives, and protect first responders. At least I hope so.

Yes, i seen articles about search and rescue lots of rural PD and Sheriffs departments use them now. like that one in Tennessee search. Not all pd's can afford a helicopter. So I wonder then, technically if LEO's use them are they considered commercial use and then their operators have to take the FAA test.... hmmm

Good question. Since they are not commercial entities, rather governmental in nature perhaps they will get wavered somehow. I'd hate to see them get bogged down in red tape when they could be using these for the public benefit.

You mean they shouldn't be held to the same standards as everyone else that is operating the same vehicles, in the same airspace, with the same public safety issues?

LOL

Figures......

Astro

lol

You can LOL all day long, but that was a serious question, and I am interested in your answer.

Astro

Although I feel they should they more than likely don't. You know how that goes.
.

Mike

If I had to wager a guess , my guess would be that since they aren't directly making money from the use of the drone , that it would not fall under commercial use of the drone . Since the victim in the search & rescue isn't going to be paying for the rescue , other than the officers being paid to do their jobs which they would still be paid all the same whether a drone or a foot search found the victim , my vote would be for Search & Rescue to not be a commercial use .

Now , if your using it to track an escaped convict , with the intent of collecting the reward money for bringing the convict in "bounty hunter" style (think , "the Dog" here if you've ever seen that TV show) well then Hell yea that would constitute commercial use cause the #1 motivation is not rescue but instead financial reward .

Sound about right here ?

Ya, you're real interested in a dialog. I think you already noted you are here to solely to follow my posts, and respond to them, to "unspin" them. Even in threads like the one regarding fields, and distances etc that have no controversy, no drama, or spin. A nice thread with some good discussions, and you troll it. I'm sure in your mind you're justified, and I'm sure you'll have a great reason why (you do it, so will I), and responses etc etc, but really. Pardon me if I don't respond to every single post of yours, especially ones that end with "figures..."

Ask a question and make it look like you're interested in a discussion rather than more argument, and I'm happy to respond. Sound fair?

That makes to much sense, so of course it probably isn't the best thing for big brother to do. Ultimately I think they are treated like everyone else, unless they are using it for hobby purposes. I know at least two police dept's in the local area that bought gear, but won't use it for fear of running up against the FAA. I'll see if that's something that's changed in the past few months.

And this kinda ties into why I wondered in the other thread if the AMA would always be a non profit model aircraft organization . If in the not too distant future even police departments will need part 107 compliance then there will be huge dollars to be made running training courses to prepare the LEOs who do search and rescue and even surveillance for the 107 testing requirements , yes ? And yea while this technology is still kinda new , in the heat of the moment of searching for a lost person where time is of the essence , of course I believe finding the person takes priority over complying with part 107 . But as time goes on any government agency operating drones , even police doing search & rescue work , will need to be properly trained in the safe operation of the equipment if these searches are to be effective . Some say "ya just shake em outta the box and they fly" whereas some say there is a bit of both training and skill involved in flying them just as there is in a "traditional" RC model . Who knows , maybe the ones the law enforcement search & rescue teams finally get will need nothing more than a set of coordinates programmed in to search but for now I do believe some type of learned human piloting is required , and there will be the need to train those pilots , lots of em .

Init, the FAA has stated their intent to recognize a 'public' category of drones which would include LE agencies along with other public services. This was several years ago, before AMA involvement, when hobby MA were to be excepted from any UAS regulation but it's a natural and logical thing to do and I don't think the concept has been dropped. You may recall that cops were the first group to use drones with FAA sanction (more or less on a beta test basis). Cops crashed a lot of them and so generated some bad PR. and that may be why FAA seems now to be in no hurry to set regs to authorize that use.

Well, I just did, apparently that is not good enough for you.

There is only part 107 and part 101. As yet there is no government drone reg. Also a decision soon may make it clear if this is allowed without the owners permission.