FAA UAV and RC Aircraft Rule Changes

FAA UAV and RC Aircraft Rule Changes

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

A UAV is a flying vehicle that receives high level control commands from an operator on the ground. I hesitate to call this operator a pilot, since they typically have no full-size or RC model airplane experience. More than anything else, operating a UAV is like playing a video game.

Sometimes UAVs fly autonomously. From the time they take-off until the time they land, the UAV receives no instructions from a human. This is relatively rare today, but will become more commonplace in the future as sensor and computing technologies improve.

UAV Technologies

At first developing a UAV was very expensive, so most of the early applications were military in nature. Over time the sensors, computers, and other electronics necessary to make them work have dramatically shrunk in size and in cost.

Today, a very sophisticated miniaturized UAV control board can be assembled for as little as $100. With reduced costs and increased reliability, the number of potential commercial UAV applications has exploded.

UAV Missions

Commercial and military UAVs are used almost exclusively in reconnaissance missions. These involve gathering information and either transmitting it to the ground in real time or storing it for later study.

A UAV is a flying robot. Commercial and military robots are primarily used for missions that, for one reason or another, they would rather not have a human doing them. These missions usually fall under the categories of "dull, dirty or dangerous". For example, robots were used to go into the Fukushima nuclear reactor after the accident because of the dangers involved. Surveillance missions for UAVs fall under the category of dull, though sometimes the UAV has to fly over enemy territory.

Some futurists believe that robots will one day be able to fill any job previously held by a human. It is not unreasonable to believe that one day robotic UAVs will be used to transport cargo or even passengers.

National Airspace System and the FAA

With 50,000 daily flights and employing about 15,000 air traffic controllers, the National Airspace System (NAS) of the United States is complex. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the branch of the federal government responsible for regulating the NAS to promote safe use by everyone.

With an annual budget of $16 billion dollars, the FAA is a large and complex organization. Like any other large bureaucracy, it can take a long time for the FAA to react to changing needs.

See and Avoid

For over 100 years the guiding safety principle in the NAS is referred to as see and avoid. The FAA calls them "Right of Way" rules. Pilots are responsible for constantly keeping an eye out for other air traffic and acting promptly to avoid hitting it. The exception is flight under the instrument flight rules, where you hand over responsibility for see and avoid to an air traffic controller on the ground. The FAA still requires pilots flying under instrument rules to practice see and avoid as best as possible. Because of the complexities involving instrument rules, the vast majority of non-commercial civilian flights are done under the visual flight rules, where an air traffic controller is only contacted when taking off or landing.

Detect, Sense, and Avoid

UAVs today are not able to follow the FAA guidelines for see and avoid in the NAS. They are simply not sophisticated enough to sense other approaching aircraft and act to avoid a collision. Even if there is a human ground operator, UAVs cannot follow these rules because of time lags and sensor limitations.

There is much ongoing research into this problem. Some of it is being funded by the FAA and NASA. Unfortunately, the consensus is that it will be many years before a totally unrestricted UAV flying in the NAS will be able to match the level of safety demonstrated by other manned aircraft.

The Situation Today

Right now UAVs have to follow the rules put in place by the FAA for remote-controlled model aircraft many years ago. The rules basically state that the ground operator must be in constant visual contact with the UAV and the UAV can only fly 400 feet high (120 m). Why 400 feet? Because full-size airplanes have to fly at least 500 feet above the ground.

It shouldn't be hard to see that these rules severely limit the potential commercial applications for UAVs.

The Problem

The FAA today is under enormous pressure to permit broader use of the NAS by UAVs. How do you permit broader use of UAVs without compromising the safety of the NAS? That is a very tricky problem, and it has taken years for the FAA to feel it is in a position to implement a plan.

The Solution

A few days ago the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate passed a bill requiring the FAA to open the NAS for use by UAVs by September 2015. The President is expected to sign the bill into law soon.

The bill is complex, delineating various categories of UAV users and various deadlines. For example, law enforcement agencies and firefighters will be given access first due to the public safety nature of their work.

The FAA will not be publishing their integration plan for another nine months. We will have to wait and see exactly what their plan looks like. I expect it to classify UAVs into different categories depending on their weight and flying speed. The different categories will have different sets of rules apply to them.

No Change for RC

The good news is that the rules regulating RC aircraft that weigh 55 pounds or less are not expected to change much, if at all. The AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics) has done an excellent job communicating to the congressmen the needs of its members. Thanks, AMA.

Aircraft Livery Changes

Aircraft Livery Changes

Airframe paints.

Perhaps the primary function of aircraft coatings is to protect the airframe from corrosion. Today's R&D programmes look closely at fuel saving and cost cutting. Aerospace coatings take a lot of punishment. A commercial short-haul aircraft is subject to huge temperature changes as it climbs to a typical cruising altitude of 35,000ft to experience temperatures below -50'C and high levels of short-wave radiation. Structural flexing, changing air pressure, exposure to cleaning agents, water, fuel and other chemicals can all result in corrosion of the aircraft skin. If corrosion occurs and is left unchecked, it will result in pitting, which could compromise the integrity of the airframe.

Anti-static conductive epoxy coatings control static charge and surface conductivity, high-temperature coatings resist temperatures as high as 500°C and anti-chafe coatings with a Teflon additive resist abrasion in areas such as wing flaps.

Airline liveries.

Aircraft liveries are increasingly used for brand identification, a marketing tool for airlines, because customers identify the exterior of the aircraft with the flying experience. Corporate colours and redesigned livery can project a powerful brand with all that that brings with it.

Water-based aircraft paints.

Traditionally, aerospace coatings contained high amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs); essentially solvents used to carry the pigment in the paint. As the paint dried the VOCs evaporated, damaging the environment (depleting the ozone layer) and potentially, the health of those applying the coating. Many VOCs have been classified as toxic and carcinogenic.

New aviation coatings, made from non-chromate materials, offer performance levels that at one time could only have been achieved with high VOC, chrome-containing paints. Even coating-removers are now water-based.

Low VOC coatings are better for the environment, but they do present challenges because of their low-solvent, high-solid content. Ultra-high solids coatings now last four to eight years and are better value, fewer coats are needed, so less coating is used, there is a subsequent saving in labour costs and turnaround times and crucially, the finished coating weight is less.

The smoothness of the surface finish on final topcoats effects drag and fuel efficiency. The accumulated weight of the coatings is a factor, but rivets and seams need to be hidden. The turnaround time can be drastically reduced if the materials dry quickly.

American Airlines flies with the majority of the airframe unpainted. By not painting aircraft surfaces, this type of paint scheme reduces weight and therefore results in fuel savings. Aluminium is the main material in the airframe, but now lighter weight magnesium and titanium are sometimes used for areas subject to particular stress. Composites are increasingly used in next-generation aircraft such as the 787. Traditional aerospace coatings do not adhere easily to these materials. Most composites are sensitive to strippers. Therefore, research into airframe coatings continues.