hot topic | DRONES
State Legislation, FAA Leave
Drone Use Grounded by Mary Branham
SCOUTING CROPS KENDRICK, Idaho—Idaho farmer Robert Blair uses his unmanned aircraft system to scout his crops and determine where there are problems. “Some of the changes in the field are very subtle, so that as you’re walking through them, you can’t see them from the ground, whereas from the air you can,” he said. Photo courtesy of Robert Blair
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JULY / AUG 2013
18
It might look like fun and games, but when Robert Blair launches the remote-controlled plane over his 1,500 acre Idaho farm, he’s really hard at work. Unmanned aircraft systems—previously called unmanned aerial vehicles and what some people refer to as drones—are the newest technology helping farmers, law enforcement and state officials, among others, do their jobs more efficiently and, in some cases, more effectively. Blair, for instance, can cut hours off the time it takes to scout his crops, and he often gets a better picture of what’s going on from the images his aircraft collects. “Some of the changes in the field are very subtle, so that as you’re walking through them, you can’t see them from the ground, whereas from the air you can,” he said. Blair owns his own drone and can use it to
survey his fields, but he can’t help a neighbor. That’s because the Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t yet integrated drones into U.S. airspace and restricts commercial use. That will change in 2015 when U.S. airspace is opened to unmanned aerial vehicles flying commercially. Before that happens, the FAA is looking for six pilot sites to test drones for commercial use. Idaho is one state applying to be a test site. Sen. Chuck Winder, a former Navy pilot, sponsored the resolution supporting the state’s bid to be an FAA test site. Idaho, because of its open spaces and small population, would be a good test spot, he said.
Privacy Concerns
“We also knew, because of people’s apprehension about unmanned aircraft and how they might be used, we also need to deal with
the privacy issues involved in it,” Winder said. He co-sponsored legislation prohibiting law enforcement from using drones to conduct investigations without a search warrant. The House and Senate approved the legislation, and Gov. Butch Otter signed it in April, making Idaho the first state with such a law. But Idaho isn’t the only state considering the issue of privacy. Several other states have considered similar legislation, and Virginia passed a two-year moratorium on the use of drones for law enforcement. “Technology has far outpaced the laws of the land,” said Alaska Rep. Scott Kawasaki, who sponsored legislation to limit law enforcement’s use of the technology in his state. “We should be secure in our own home without the threat of being constantly monitored.”
