I agree, too much time is spent debating rules that for all intents and purposes should be pretty simple. I'll stick a few for what I think are reasonable examples.
- Assure safe separation from all manned aircraft in all flight environments
- Assure the safety of the general public during any and all flight operations
- Assure that safe navigation of the aircraft can be maintained at all times
- Assure that in the event of flight controller/auto pilot/ or other flight critical component failure the aircraft will execute a safe landing or descent 100% of the time
Now, a couple of true stories from the Iraq and Afghanistan sandboxes. We used to fly Iraq using the "Big sky, little airplane" theory. Meaning that our UAV's were for the most part pretty small and we had a lot of airspace so conflict was probably never going to be an issue unless near a major aviation hub like a logistical support area. So one day about 70 clicks out from a major military installation we're tooling around at 3,000 MSl fat, dumb and happy when out of nowhere and in the opposite direction comes a flight of 4 CH-47's flying in pairs and with the pairs in side by side formation. All were full of troops. We didn't see them until it was too late and I'm not sure if they ever saw us but we split the middle of that flight right at pilot eye level. Combined airspeed was ~175 mph. Had we hit one about 40 people would have died. We were exactly where we were supposed to be but the near miss was our fault. The helis had deviated from their assigned flight path and altitude.
So later we come up with a really small altitude encoding transponder to help the military ATC maintain flight separations but there was a problem. Our stuff used GPS altitude but the manned stuff used pressure altitude when they set their altimeters. Guess what? The two altitude types had a natural difference of several hundred feet. Didn't matter that ours was more accurate that theirs, guess who had to change how their system measured and reported altitude? That's right, the one most accurate using GPS altitude reporting. That system was accurate to within only a few centimeters in any axis, but wasn't what manned was using.
So in another place, later in time a relatively small UAV was cleared to land in airspace set aside specifically for its launch and recovery once the LZ was activated. Along comes this Blackhawk and the UAV T-bones the tail rotor. The UAV was in the right place at the right altitude at the right time and well noted by ATC. Fortunately nobody got hurt but guess who was faulted and forced to relocate their operations? Yep, the people that were doing everything right with the small UAV. There have been quite a few other incidents with collisions between manned and unmanned aviation, including a manned heli and a low budget UAV in Australia.
The point is we'll always be the bad guys because manned aviation has the right of way even when they are violating ATC clearances and FAR's. Unfortunately high population density and airports run hand in hand. As population density increases so does the number of people buying and flying the stuff we like to fly for revenue and recreation. Unfortunately a very great percentage of them don't have a clue where their responsibilities start and how those need to be handled. They don't think about anything but how much fun they are about to have and how easy it will be to accomplish what they have set out to do. People on the ground? Shoot, they never even consider them. The darned thing will fly itself home and land if I flip this little switch. What more do I really need to know if it will do that by itself? Manned aircraft at any altitude or location? Heck, that pilot will be able to see our toy, no problem. We have lights on the bottom, yes? Airports? Hey, people are supposed to be able to fly at an airport, right? I mean, we have a right to use the airspace so who the heck do they think they are telling me I can't do that whenever I want to?
So let's spend some time talking about what needs to be done. How much or how little regulation will be necessary to assure safety as much as possible all the way around. What will it take to establish a rules set that will let us fly for hire and make some money doing what we can do oh so well. What will differentiate us from amateurs that can, currently, buy and fly the same stuff we do? Will that be a training syllabus and special certification, or what?
None of us want regulation but do you really see a way of avoiding that? The writing's on the wall and that writing appears to be more severe than it needs to be. Let's talk about making useful regulations instead of ones designed to block us from making a living using affordable equipment.
Then the hard part, how to get that info out to everyone selling, buying, and flying these things.
