Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)

The FAA defines UAS as an unmanned aircraft (UA) and all of the associated support equipment, control stations, data links, telemetry, communi­cations, and navigation equipment, etc., neces­sary to operate the unmanned aircraft. The UA is the flying portion of the system, flown by a pilot

via a ground-control system, or autonomously through use of an on board computer with asso­ciated equipment necessary for the UA to oper­ate safely. UAS are also referred to variously as drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

We saw in Chapter 22 how UAS in the United States National Airspace System (NAS) has been certificated and controlled by the FAA during its short and recent history of author­ity over these aircraft. The first priority of the FAA being safety, the agency has moved slowly and cautiously in granting certificates for UAS operations within the NAS. While the FAA does not disclose the exact nature of UAS cer­tifications within the NAS (which policy has prompted lawsuits under the Freedom of Infor­mation Act), certain UAS authorizations are known.6 For example, the Department of Home­land Security uses UAS for surveillance of bor­ders and port facilities. NASA and NOAA are engaged in research and environmental moni­toring using UAVs. Local and state law enforce­ment agencies also have been certified to use drones. The FAA issued 313 certificates in 2011.

While UAS have been primarily used by the U. S. military overseas in war zones for both surveillance and offensive military strikes, there has been a steady growth of interest in their use here at home. Civil uses include aerial mapping, crop monitoring, forest fire detection, and res­cue operations. Development of UAS is ongoing worldwide, but in the United States alone some 50 different groups ranging from universities, private companies, and government organizations are developing and producing numerous and var­ied unmanned aircraft designs. This has created a powerful lobby for the proliferation of UAS uses in the NAS.

In February 2012, Congress mandated the FAA, in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2012, to develop regulations and procedures to permit, by 2015, widespread use of UAS in the National Airspace System by both government and

commercial operators. The purpose of this man­date is to expedite and streamline the certification process and to develop means whereby they may be safely integrated into the NAS. The present cer­tification of drones precludes their use in airspace occupied by civil aircraft due to the inability of UAVs to “sense and avoid” other aircraft.

The fact that UAS are of varying degrees of size and sophistication adds to the problem of integrating them into the NAS where they will be required to mix and assimilate with manned aircraft. Some UAVs have the wing span of a Boeing 737 and are powered by turbojets. At the other extreme, there are very small UAVs weighing less than one pound with wing spans (or rotors) of six inches or less and powered by a lithium-ion battery (micro aerial vehicle). Some are even designed in the form of hummingbirds with flapping wings.