Drones

Are FAA Guidelines Even Essential? Public Security by Steve Rhode

In this drone public safety column, do FAA rules even matter? The complex environment of enforcement.

The following is one of a bi-weekly series on drone public safety issues by Steve Rhode, chief pilot of the Wake Forest Fire Department and the North Carolina Public Safety Drone Academy and founder of Public Safety Flight, a website dedicated to information about the use of unmanned aircraft systems ( UAS), UAVs, planes and drones in public safety. (Not to be construed as legal advice: see the FAA government website for details. Opinions are those of the author.)

Why fly according to FAA rules at all?

DRONELIFE provides me with a column and platform to share information with UAS public safety pilots and I am grateful for the opportunity. But here is something you would never expect to hear from me. Are FAA Rules Even Important?

The FAA has done an intricate job of promoting drones, regulating drone flight, and providing little enforcement to drone pilots who break the rules. However, if you look at the map, DJI publishes and brags about drones; Almost any listing would be a perfect opportunity for the department and pilot to be screened for non-compliant flights.

Manufacturers spread marketing messages about BVLOS flights or sell drones that can perform all kinds of automated or complicated flights. The marketing departments do this without any consequences.

Associations and conferences promote all sorts of magical uses of drones in public safety. Pilots everywhere fly by the standards they hear or assume.

The media is celebrating heroic drone flights that are producing some positive results.

But what do many of them have in common? None of the flights comply with the Federal Aviation Regulations.

What is happening right now without FAA enforcement is a whole generation of pilots being trained that the rules don’t matter.

I have been a manned aircraft pilot since 1988 and for all my years of flying I have always been beaten; the rules were important and had consequences.

Can you feel my frustration?

The people who are being harassed here are the public safety drone pilots who will believe what they see in marketing, associations and conferences.

The Federal Aviation Regulations don’t seem to matter until that day, and the FAA is waking up to enforce the regulations.

It is inevitable. More drones in public safety will lead to more accidents and injuries from non-compliant flights. These events will lead to more lawsuits and governments and pilots will lose if the flight is compared to the rules in the books.

Once the plaintiff’s attorneys realize that it won’t take more than a few minutes to demonstrably prove the department and pilot involved in a non-compliant flight, the lawsuits will flow.

For those who take the time to actually read the CFR Part 107 regulations, they will find that what they suspect about the drone flight is not up to the rules.

I recently did a podcast with FDNY’s Fred Carlson and it was refreshing to hear him about their approach to flight operations. First, they make an effort to obey the rules of flight. Second, it reduces pilot and department liability by not doing stupid things.

Some of the core rules of aviation are:

  • Decision making in aviation – Making intelligent and correct decisions on every flight and in every flight phase helps you and your department to avoid liability.
  • Risk management – Knowing the regulations can help you make informed decisions about the level of risk to expose yourself to each flight so you know what is wise, calculated, or just plain stupid.
  • Ignorance is not a defense – You don’t want to be like the Seattle pilot who was sentenced to 30 days in prison for a flight that was “at significant risk of death or serious injury to another person.” Saying you didn’t know what the rules are is not a winning strategy.
  • As a pilot, you will always be guilty before proven innocent – If your drone falls from the sky, flies away or injures someone on the ground, you will need to demonstrate your decisions and actions that did not lead to the incident. Any public safety pilot, COA or Part 107, is subject to CFR 91.3 “The pilot in Command of a Aircraft is directly responsible for the operation of this aircraft and is the ultimate authority over the operation of this aircraft.”

By the time the day comes, lawyers from the FAA, NTSB, and the plaintiff wake up and begin cracking down on pilots and divisions; There is no need to follow the rules. But what day will it be and will you be ready?

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