UAV Implementation and Regulation

UAVs are quickly growing in the U.S. and they have more uses than the commonly known package delivery. Some examples may be photography and videography as well as surveying and tracking wildlife or fires. They fit the category of aircraft by the FAA and will and are required to follow the regulations pertaining to them.

UAVs will certainly be put into the national airspace system. They currently have the 400' maximum altitude restriction, but I see that going away in the future when better technology and resources are put into implementing them. They certainly will be much more difficult to implement than other aircraft as they are small and most likely will not be picked up on primary radar. With the addition of ADS-B they would be always be seen, no matter where they are making the implementation much safer and easier to regulate. Drones delivering packages will be a more difficult task to bring together. If a drone runs out of battery it cannot make lift meaning that it will fall very far and very fast. If people or property is underneath damage or death is inevitable. There will certainly have to be safety features or specific air routes for drones to follow bringing them over sparsely populated areas and away from people. It will be interesting to see where the UAV regulation goes.

Drones are commonly seen as a danger, but there is a lot of technology out there that can make the use of them a safer. The use of them being flown near aircraft creates the thought of them being unsafe, but that is only a few people that disturb the image of UAVs for everybody else (UAV World).

If you do a quick search for UAV jobs you will find dozens if not hundreds of possibilities. The UAV industry is continuing to grow faster and faster. I don't see that stopping in the future anytime soon. There are many openings for UAV pilots and company managers (Indeed). Such as writing company policy to fit the FAA standards and to supervise those rules.

References

(n.d.). In Indeed. Retrieved February 14, 2016, from http://www.indeed.com/q-uav-jobs.html

UAV World. (n.d.). FAA To Get Tougher With UAS Airspace Violators. Retrieved February 14, 2016, from http://www.hse-uav.com/faa_uas_airspace_violators.htm

Cargo Industry and Rest Regulations

Following Continental Connection's (Colgan Air) flight 3407 crashing near Buffalo as a result of incorrect recovery to a stall the FAA implemented new requirements for pilots. These new regulations were regarding training such as the 1500 hour rule and rest period increases. Fatigue was a very large  issue in regards to this crash and there has been a lot of pushing for change, although not all of the change is for the better.

The rest periods under the new regulation have gone up to 10 hours with at least 8 of it being available to the pilot for uninterrupted sleep (FAA, n.d., pg.15, FAA, 2010). That is an increase from the 8 hour rest period from previous regulation. Companies and their pilots are strongly encouraged to make sure to get enough rest. The responsibility to mitigate fatigue is on everybody's  shoulders now.

Pilot duty time has changed requiring pilots a maximum of 8 or 9 hours on duty depending on their duty start time (Trejos, 2014). They must also have a minimum of 30 hours of consecutive rest every week (Trejos, 2014). These regulations do not apply to cargo pilots. They can be scheduled to fly a lot more and at worse times for rest periods than passenger pilots. This is odd because they fly the same aircraft that fly over you and me every day. That aircraft has to be controlled by somebody and a fatigued pilot is a fatigued pilot no matter what is packed behind them. The reason for passing on regulating cargo pilots may be for economical reasons for the companies. I believe that a very big reason is that there aren't many people on board. There are the two pilots and maybe a few crew on board. That is a lot less than hundreds of passengers and the truth is that people believe if an airplane goes down and kills only 10 people it is a lot better than one going down and killing that few hundred. What about the cargo crew and their families? What about everybody on the ground waiting to get hit? One person's happiness and life is worth regulating rest periods for cargo crews. 

It would be great if cargo carriers implemented the rest regulations as the airlines have. Personally cargo flying doesn't seem as interesting as a pilot for that reason. Cargo operations seem to have below par scheduling which is discouraging as well as their work duty periods. If cargo operations were required to follow the same rest regulations as passenger carriers I am almost certain that many more pilots would be attracted to fly cargo. 

References

FAA. (2010, January 27). Fact Sheet - Pilot Flight Time, Rest, and Fatigue. Retrieved February 7, 2016, from https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=6762

FAA. (n.d.). Final Rule. Retrieved February 7, 2016, from https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/recently_published/media/2120-AJ58-FinalRule.pdf

Trejos, N. (2014, January 3). New pilot fatigue rules go into effect this weekend. In USA Today. Retrieved February 7, 2016, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2014/01/03/pilot-fatigue-mandatory-rest-new-faa-rules/4304417/