“I think it’s a significant achievement and I think it’s fantastic for Woolpert,” said Matt Hutchinson, a Woolpert research scientist with the company’s unmanned aerial systems program.
The additional service could mean more jobs, Hutchinson said, but the company had no prediction Wednesday on how many more it may create.
Woolpert was one of four companies the FAA announced Wednesday the agency exempted out of federal restrictions to fly drones for business. The FAA will release proposed rules on flying small UAVs, those weighing less than 55 pounds, by the end of the year, a spokesman said. But it will be many months more before drones take to the skies. The rules will need to address safety concerns of small drones entering low altitude airspace and will be subject to public review. Drones also have drawn concerns about privacy.
So far, the FAA has granted 13 companies the authority to fly drones commercially, said FAA spokesman Les Dorr. Six of those firms were in the film and movie industry. The agency has received 167 requests for exemptions from commercial entities.
“The approval for Woolpert to be able to do this in Ohio … is a definite leg up for the future businesses and future companies to do the same,” said Maurice “Mo” McDonald, Dayton Development Coalition executive vice president of aerospace and defense.
Sending a drone aloft for geospatial and mapping needs will give the company more flexibility, Hutchinson said. “In particular, flying quite low can get a greater spatial resolution which means we can see with much better clarity in the imagery that we take (and) it means we can mobilize more often,” he said.
The Altavian Nova Block III drone will not curtail the number of manned surveying aircraft in Woolpert’s fleet, he said.
In Ohio, the drone could be used in precision agriculture to survey the health of crops, environmental management, such as tracking lake or river erosion, and monitoring infrastructure in the construction and oil and gas industries, among possible uses. “It will be a mix of locations based on our clients needs,” he said.
‘One of the first’
Woolpert developed the use of the UAV during research flights out of Wilmington Air Park in collaboration with Sinclair Community College.
“This is one of the first really big commercial approvals by the FAA,” said Andrew D. Shepherd, Sinclair director of the unmanned aerial systems program. “That will be great for our students because now you’ve got a locally headquartered and operated company that’s going to be requiring” more UAS-skilled workers.
An Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International workforce study project 2,700 jobs in the UAS industry in Ohio by 2025. Sinclair is investing $5 million to build a national UAS training and certification center in a renovated classroom building in downtown Dayton.
More companies have investigated the potential using UAVs, but it could take up to two years for rules to be put in place, said Phillip Finnegan, a drone expert at the Virginia-based Teal Group.
“The development of the commercial market is going to take some time just because the regulatory environment needs to be established,” he said. “The FAA needs to feel comfortable with these systems.”
Safe operation is key, he said. “They (the FAA) want to feel comfortable that they’re safe, they’re won’t be collisions with aircraft, they’re safe in populated areas.”
Interest growing
In petitions to the FAA, the four companies said they will fly the small drones “within line of sight at all times,” the FAA said. The firms had asked for exemptions from regulations on general flight rules, pilot certification requirements, manuals, maintenance and equipment mandates, the federal agency said. The FAA grants certificates of airworthiness to operate drones. But the companies were exempted from that requirement under a provision known as Section 333, because the drones do not pose a threat to the national air space or national security, according to the FAA.
Frank Beafore, executive director of small drone-maker SelectTech Geospatial in Springfield, said he’s recently had more buyers interested in UAVs.
“We are seeing an increase in our business already in anticipation of the new rules coming out,” he said. Still, he expressed frustration at the pace with which the FAA has pushed the rules, and he cited “rogue” operators flying toy planes for some recent reports of near collisions between planes and drones.
An AUVSI official said the FAA should move faster to permit more companies to fly UAVs.
“While we think this is a positive step, granting exemptions on a case-by-case basis is not an effective way to regulate the use of UAS in the long term,” said Mario Mairena, AUVSI senior government relations manager. “The FAA needs to begin the rule-making process and finalize a rule for the use of UAS as quickly as possible to allow UAS technology to realize its full potential and allow a wide range of industries to reap its benefits.”
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