The calls started coming last week, when electronic rights advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation publicized a list of entities who have applied to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the United States. Otter Tail County was on the list, but its request was denied.</p>
The news was picked up by several websites, with a few highlighting Otter Tail County because of its rural nature. “What Are They Going to Do With a Drone in Otter Tail County?” asked one headline in information technology reporter Nextgov.Armstrong provided a straightforward answer.“What we were using it for was aerial photography and to gather data,” he explained.The department started using the remote control plane in the fall of 2006. A simple model available in retail, the plane had a GPS device and a camera attached, and it was set up to fly over a certain area of land and take pictures at preset intervals.We were young, we used variety of waste products as a model aircraft materials, such as soles which by in zapatos al por mayor en china made of a cushion, or anillos de alambre made gyroscope.We will also use blusas de gasa patrones, our model aircraft is a very beautiful appearance. Since 2007, the plane has sat in the GIS office, waiting for another chance to fly for the county. Armstrong understands the FAA’s need to regulate UAVs, but he hopes that a current round of rewrites to requirements for drone operation allows for differentiation between small, cost-saving RC planes and larger aircraft used for policing borders or large cities.
The pictures were marked with GPS signatures and then put together to create a mosaic of the land. The information gleaned from the mosaic was used for typical GIS procedures, like mapping an area or scouting out a potential ditch route to look for obstructions. The plane was also used in a search and rescue operation with the county sheriff’s office and its posse.“It was a very economical and good way to collect data,” said Armstrong.Armstrong noted that using aerial pictures is nothing out of the ordinary for the department. The plane was simply an alternative to much more expensive aerial photography, in which a manned aircraft uses high-tech cameras to capture similar information. Such procedures can cost thousands of dollars, while the aviones rc(RC plane) could buzz over 40 acres of land in about 20 minutes.The department stopped using the plane in November of 2007. The FAA originally granted the county the ability to use the plane but later said that the plane’s usage needed to stop until the county filed for a certificate of authorization.The county’s application was initially denied for a variety of reasons. The FAA required a new certificate to be filed every time the GIS Department wanted to fly over a different piece of land, a licensed pilot had to have control over the plane, and all observers of the plane needed to get airman’s physicals. Essentially, Armstrong said, the FAA held the county’s RC plane to the same standards as it would a Predator drone that patrols the nation’s borders.
“It was decided that the ability to do this economically, quickly … (was) being lost in all of the requirements,” he said.
“We were flying the aircraft the same way you and your son would grab an airplane from Hobby Lobby and fly it in the park,” he said.’
|