Drones have featured regularly in the news in recent months. Politicians are seeking clarification from ministers/presidents because it would seem that drones are being introduced in an underhand way, thereby threatening privacy.
But are drones (also known as UAS or RPAS) really so scary, or do they also have positive applications? They certainly do!
Unmanned Aircraft Systems are important for commercial applications such as aerial photography, GEO-information, agricultural remote sensing and application, pipeline and power line surveillance, fisheries and wildlife monitoring, fire-fighting, weather and climate studies, security, law enforcement, rescue, recovery missions and event broadcasting. Moreover, the consumer has found the UAS as (info)tainment product.
The number of applications is huge but their use must be legally regulated.
Not only rules concerning safety but also existing rules for protecting privacy. Just imagine if a drone entered the flight path of a passenger aircraft or came through your car windscreen; that cannot be allowed to happen.
Work is progressing on regulations in Europe (both at a domestic and European level). This means that professional UAS operators will finally have transparency, not only with good regulations but with rigorous training requirements for the operator, rules to which the aircraft must conform as well as rules for the company which operates the UAS.
The fourth edition of the UAS event will take place on 26/27 May 2014, Academia de Oficiales de la Guardia Civil, Aranjuez, Madrid, Spain.
The program consists of:
26 May Demonstration flights
27 May Seminar and Exhibition
The target group for this event is not limited to the UAS industry, but includes (potential) professional users of drones from business, government, industry and the media.
For more information about the UAS event, go to http://uasevent.com.
Stay up-to-date with the latest UAS news via @uasevent on Twitter and via www.uasevent.com/blog/.