Drones

The Federal Aviation Administration anounced the last of six test sites is “ready to conduct research vital to integrating UAS into the nation’s airspace.”

Last May an appeal was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit with respect to the FAA’s efforts to regulate the use of drones via the use of an email. The court has now concluded that the challenged email wasn’t a formal decision, it didn’t reflect any final FAA decisionmaking, and it didn’t really have any legal consequences (notwithstanding the email’s ominous and threatening tone). In a terse two-page order, the court shot the appeal down.

The manufacturers of flying eyes in the sky prefer that you not call them drones. It seems the term has acquired a bad rep, thanks to the legacy of weaponized systems and the fear that they’ll become the next method for spying on U.S. citizens. No matter what you call them, this seems certain: The United States has a love-hate relationship with drones, and the culture is influencing how quickly journalists will be able to legally leverage them.

In a letter to the FAA, Amazon said it is developing aerial vehicles as part of Amazon Prime Air. The aircraft can travel over 50 miles per hour and carry loads of up to 5 pounds. About 86% of Amazon’s deliveries are 5 pounds or less, the company said.

As billionaires and dealmakers descend upon Sun Valley, Idaho, for the Allen & Co. media conference this week, security personnel are on the lookout for a new kind of threat: drones. Event staff are watching the skies for unmanned aerial vehicles that could photograph, harass or harm attendees at the annual gathering of business executives, according to two people familiar with the plans who asked not to be named.

Police are concerned that the increasing popularity of drones in such a tightly packed metropolis could carry significant risks, even becoming a potential tool for terrorists to conduct surveillance or carry out attacks.

The Department of Transportation was asked by some members of Congress to check in on the FAA to see if the agency was going to meet the September 2015 deadline for safely integrating unmanned aircraft into the National Airspace System. With almost a year to go for overall approval, the DOT says things aren’t looking so good.

Seeking to speed up government rulemaking about the use of drones in newsgathering, CNN and the Georgia Institute of Technology have announced they will jointly study how to operate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) safely and effectively. In a news release today, the partners called it a “research initiative” and said they will share data with the Federal Aviation Authority “as it considers regulations that will allow for the safe and effective operation of UAVs by media outlets.”

More than 400 large U.S. military drones have crashed in major accidents around the world since 2001, a record of calamity that exposes the potential dangers of throwing open American skies to drone traffic, according to a year-long Washington Post investigation.

Drone maker AeroVironment and BP energy corporation have been given permission to use a Puma drone to survey pipelines, roads and equipment at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, the agency said. The first flight took place on Sunday. Last week, the FAA said it was considering giving permission to seven filmmaking companies to use drones for aerial photography, a potentially significant step that could lead to greater relaxation of the agency’s ban on commercial use of drones.

The Federal Aviation Administration has agreed to consider a request by Hollywood production companies for regulatory exemption to allow for the use of unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, for filming. The FAA is also working on a proposed set of rules specifically developed for users of “small” — under 55 pound — aircrafts, which it expects to complete later this year.

With the FAA saying no to journalistic uses of drones for the time being and an NTSB judge contradicting that edict, media outlets like KATV Little Rock, Ark., are going ahead and using amazing footage shot from unmanned aircraft systems. Under a congressional mandate, the FAA has been on course to develop regulations for the “safe integration” of commercial drones through a conventional rulemaking process by Sept. 30, 2015. Let’s hope the agency develops its commercial drones rules as quickly as possible — and with an understanding of the special prerogatives of the media.

More than a dozen news organizations filed a brief with the National Transportation Safety Board today in support of aerial photographer Raphael Pirker. They say the FAA’s ban violates First Amendment protection for news gathering. Among the groups are Cox Media Group, Gannett, Gray Television, Hearst Corp., Sinclair Broadcast Group, Tribune Co., RTDNA, AP and Scripps Media.

Despite the FAA’s regulations prohibiting the use of drones by news outlets, the Little Rock, Ark., ABC affiliate says it’s not breaking any rules because the station doesn’t own the drone that’s being used to take the video it’s aired. “This video is being used to advance the story and advance public information,” says News Director Nick Gentry.

The video above was shot by KATV photojournalist Brian Emfinger “right after the tornado moved through just south of Mayflower, Ark.” Now the Federal Aviation Administration is looking into the use of aerial drones by journalists in Arkansas to survey tornado damage.

The FAA says it granted the North Dakota Department of Commerce a Certificate of Authorization to start using a small drone at its Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site. Flight operations are expected to begin the week of May 5.

NEW YORK (AP) – Google has bought Titan Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones, saying it could help bring Internet access to remote parts of the world as well as […]

A local man used his drone to capture striking footage of the Harlem explosion, showing both the benefits and the problems of casual drone use. The FAA meanwhile is scrambling to keep up.

More than 35 states are considering drone legislation this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The bills include ways to attract an industry that could generate billions and restrictions on drone use and data collection.

A federal judge dismissed a case against a man who was fined $10,000 for operating a drone “in a careless or reckless manner” in 2011. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the skies are open for news organizations to send out fleets of drones. Matt Waite, the founder of the Drone Journalism Lab at the University of Nebraska, advises caution. “I don’t think it’s game on,” he says. “I think there’s legitimate reasons to be cautious.”

A Hartford man is filing a lawsuit against the Hartford police department and two of its members, claiming they violated his civil rights when officers demanded that he stop flying a drone over a crime scene and detained him, according to court paperwork being filed today.

Victor Hernandez, CNN’s program manager for editorial systems, says the news organization is on the lookout for the kind of journalists who have digital versatility coded into their DNA. In part two of a two-part interview with NetNewsCheck, Hernandez discusses those qualities, particularly the rising role of curators who can separate the signals from the unfiltered noise that can drown a newsroom in too much information. Read part one here. Full Story | Add comment

The Federal Aviation Administration has opened an investigation of a remote-controlled aircraft, equipped with a video camera, hovering over the wreckage of a car crash in Hartford, Conn. It was operated by an employee of CBS affiliate WFSB. The case of the Hartford crash, in which the victim’s body was left hanging out of a mangled car, highlights some of the safety, privacy and ethical issues that journalists will wrestle with as interest grows in using drones for newsgathering.

Hobbyists are allowed to use small, radio-controlled crafts under specific guidelines, but “if you’re using it for any sort of commercial purposes, including journalism, that’s not allowed,” says a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.

Drones, or “unmanned aerial systems,” were largely developed for, and remain associated with, the military. But they are increasingly being used for civilian purposes, including journalism. Remotely controlled aircraft have provided valuable images of events that are difficult to reach, including the recent typhoon in the Philippines.

Unmanned flying units could become a great new tool for media, particularly TV stations that need to find more economical ways to cover the news throughout their sprawling markets. To insure that this nascent tool is available to them in a few years, broadcasters need to get involved in the FAA’s regulatory process and keep an eye on state legislatures; they need to learn everything they can about drones and drone regulation.

Two fledgling programs created to teach journalism students how to use drones in their reporting are applying for permits so they can resume operating unmanned aircraft outdoors, their directors said this week. Both programs received cease-and-desist letters from the Federal Aviation Administration last month.

Unmanned aerial vehicles aren’t just a military, intelligence or police department tool. Drones are increasingly being tested, studied and scrutinized for journalism. And that raises all sorts of interesting legal and ethical questions.

Journalism programs at the University of Nebraska and the University of Missouri are experimenting with drones for reporting and story research. At both universities, journalism students are taught the basics of flying unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs), using still and video cameras to gather aerial information, the ethics of operating flying cameras, FAA regulations and safety, and how to interpret aerial footage. The goal is to turn information gathered from the air into workable stories.

Vincent Duffy, RTDNA chairman: “You can go online today and buy what amounts to a toy drone and spend between $300 to $1,000. You won’t be able to drop missiles on the broadcast towers of your competition, but you will be able to get amazing pictures and video you can use to supplement your news stories. Some folks are already doing it.”

Columbia, Mo., NPR affiliate KBIA-FM has introduced a “Drone Program” in the hopes of building drones to collect media, the station says. “A lot of people are predicting that drone technology is going to really big when commercial and security applications are available. But why can’t citizens and journalists also use this technology to tell stories and discover more about the world around us?” Scott Pham, KBIA’s content director, says.

They may. The FAA has begun writing licensing regulations and safety requirements that would allow unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) to be used for purposes including newsgathering by 2015. They would be a less costly and potentially more capable replacements for manned helicopters.