FAA liberates drones for agriculture; PrecisionHawk advances on news
On Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration announced the implementation of the first operational rules for commercial use of small unmanned aircraft systems or “drones”. The provisions of the new rule – formally known as Part 107 – are designed to minimize risks to other aircraft and people and property on the ground. Users can operate their unmanned aircraft in Class G (uncontrolled) airspace without air traffic control permission. In addition, the FAA is issuing more than 70 waivers to Part 107 with the majority of the approved waivers for night operations. In the future, the FAA will address operations not covered by Part 107 without a waiver, including operations over people, beyond line of sight operations, extended operations, flight in urban areas and flight at night.
In related news, PrecisionHawk has received the first ever waiver to operate drones beyond its line of sight during its commercial operations. Announced on the same day as the Federal Aviation Administration OK’d commencement of commercial drone operations within visual line of sight, this waiver gives PrecisionHawk the ability to continue its research by servicing commercial customers in real-world situations that cover large acreage such as a large percentage of agriculture fields and forestry areas common to the United States. PrecisionHawk’s research on the extended visual line of sight (EVLOS) concept began in 2015 under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the FAA. Also under the waiver, PrecisionHawk is approved to train those who want to offer these EVLOS flights as a service.
Meanwhile, check out drone mapping provider DroneDeploy’s partnerships with two latest high tech tools to track what is going on with your crops. The first tool from Minnesota-based, Aglytix focuses on giving you nifty data on emerging corn or soybean crops in the fields. It gives you a heads up if something is off and needs some fixing and exactly where the problem is, before you suffer severe economic losses with damaged crops. Serbia-based AgriSens provides the second tool which, using DroneDeploy’s maps, paints a picture of plant growth and plant count for corn and soybeans, as well as more seasonal crops and perennials.
Category: Policy
