Standardization News

Unmanned aircraft are not yet ubiquitous, but they are getting there. A look at the current state of affairs and what role standards will play in encouraging safe civilian, corporate and government use.

Drones. Also known as unmanned aircraft systems, they evoke a number of images. They capture the mind Hollywood-style (scoping out terrorist cells in far-off lands) and garner ink in major media (such as when a man was arrested for allegedly flying one near the White House).

But they have many other uses, from U.S. law enforcement with an eye on national security to scientists conducting environmental assessments, from businesses evaluating building safety to people capturing sky-high videos of favorite natural waterways.

Philip Kenul, vice chairman of ASTM Committee F38 on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, says, "They do the dull, dirty, dangerous work that manned aircraft previously had done."

Benefits

Indeed, they have many benefits, these unmanned aircraft that come in a variety of shapes and sizes, some smaller than radio-controlled model airplanes and some with the wingspan of a jet.

"They are economical, efficient and environmentally friendly," Kenul says.

The U.S. military were early users of the equipment, employing remotely operated aircraft as far back as 1917, with pilotless planes having active roles in the Vietnam, Persian Gulf, and Balkan conflicts.

More recently, according to Theodore (Ted) Wierzbanowski, chairman of Committee F38, the U.S. military used large high- and middle-altitude unmanned devices and later smaller ones in actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. "They were saving a lot of lives on the battlefield," Wierzbanowski says. "They used the smaller systems to see ‘over the hill' at who might be firing at them and later to look for improvised explosive devices."

Kenul, senior vice president of aviation and operations for Alabama-based aerospace engineering firm TriVector Services Inc., notes that unmanned aircraft also help reduce some of the dangers humans face in nonmilitary situations. He cites the almost exclusive use of unmanned aircraft for low flying crop dusting in Japan, which has eliminated worry over pilots being injured in crashes and exposed to pesticides.

Additionally, drones benefit the environment. Kenul recounts hurricane-hunting trips that went from consuming 750 gallons of jet fuel an hour for manned flights to 75 gallons an hour for unmanned flights, providing a lower carbon footprint in addition to the obvious safety advantages for researchers.

Controversy

Yes, drones have many benefits, but they are not without dangers - or controversy.

Recent news reports detailed July incidents in which two airplanes flying near hyper-busy John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York, came within 100 feet of an unmanned aircraft, one passing just below a JetBlue airplane's nose at an altitude of 800 to 900 feet and the other below the right wing of a Delta airplane as it was preparing to land. The FAA said that neither plane needed to take evasive action, and both landed safely. If a drone had hit one of the planes at a vulnerable place or point in time, the outcome could have been much different; the devices could damage an engine, windshield or other critical part of a plane.

Wierzbanowski says that the use of nonmilitary drones began to proliferate in the last decade, and users were and are making some unwise - and unsafe - moves with them. Incidents such as those at Kennedy dramatically illustrate the need for standards, called for by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

"Although these near-term incidents are getting publicity today, the FAA realized there was a problem as early as 2007 and issued a policy statement on the use of small UAS for commercial purposes," says Wierzbanowski, a retired U.S Air Force colonel who also retired from California-based AeroVironment, which develops unmanned aircrafts and efficient energy systems. "This policy statement said that no one is authorized to fly a small UAS in support of commercial business unless (he or she gets) approval from the FAA."

Wierzbanowski, who was involved early on in work developing standards for the devices, says efforts to integrate unmanned aircraft into the National Airspace System actually started in the 1990s with NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology program for high altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft used for environmental research. Because of these early efforts, the FAA and others working in the field recognized the complexity of issues involving the devices, including how to integrate them into the National Airspace System.

The FAA itself notes that, "introducing UAS into the nation's airspace is challenging for both the FAA and aviation community. UAS must be integrated into the busiest, most complex airspace in the world - and one that is evolving from ground-based navigation aids to a GPS-based system in NextGen."

The FAA, which first authorized use of unmanned aircraft in U.S. airspace in 1990, calls for that integration to be safe, efficient and timely. While it notes safety is its primary mission, the FAA says it "is committed to reducing delays and increasing system reliability. This new technology has significant potential safety and economic benefits to help achieve these goals."

To ensure safety, efficiency and effectiveness requires standards that govern both the development and operation of UAS.

According to Wierzbanowski, in April 2008 the FAA chartered an Aviation Rulemaking Committee to examine a regulatory basis for permitting small UAS to perform commercial operations in the U.S. The FAA approached several standards development organizations and ultimately selected ASTM Committee F38 in 2010 to develop the standards.

Wierzbanowski estimates that today there are three to four million unmanned aircraft - for consumer, public, and commercial use - taking to the sky. Although the majority of these are used by consumers for recreational purposes, they also soar from ground level to higher than 50,000 feet for public use, assisting in firefighting, disaster relief, search and rescue, law enforcement and other first-responder efforts as well as scientific research, military training, and testing and evaluation. The FAA also permits their use in select nonrecreational commercial operations it terms "controlled, low-risk situations."

The FAA, which outlines comprehensive regulations as to who can use unmanned aircraft, does not require approval for those who fly model aircraft for recreational purposes (through it does list guidelines, such as restricting the aircrafts to under 55 pounds unless certified by an aeromodeling community-based organization). The FAA does, however, require organizations to obtain a certificate of waiver or authorization to use the devices for both civil (nongovernmental) business and public (governmental) purposes.

According to the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, the FAA began to issue Section 333 exemptions for business purposes in September 2014 for "certain low risk commercial drone operations." As of July, more than 700 firms are permitted to fly drones commercially, with that number increasing by as many as 50 per week, according to the center. More than 45 percent of those exemptions are for photo/film firms. The FAA also has issued exemptions in the fields of utilities/energy/infrastructure, real estate, agriculture, construction, education, emergency services and a range of other areas.

ASTM: Part of the Future of UAS

Established in 2003, Committee F38 addresses issues related to design, performance, quality acceptance tests and safety monitoring for UAS with input from manufacturers of unmanned aircraft and their components, federal agencies, design professionals, professional societies, maintenance professionals, trade associations, financial organizations and academia. The committee largely focuses on standards to support emergent new regulations and certification processes that will allow small UAS to fly in civil airspace for commercial purposes both in the United States and other countries.

The committee's 130 members from 17 nations have jurisdiction over 16 standards covering, in large part, airworthiness; flight operations; and personnel training, qualification and certification. Existing standards and those in development include design, construction and testing; maintenance and continued airworthiness; quality assurance; production acceptance; operations over people; and operations beyond visual line-of-sight.

There is still much work to do. And there are numerous questions floating about unmanned aircraft, including who can fly, for instance, over someone's home and at what altitude - whether a neighbor can take a device for a spin at fence-top height or emergency personnel can cross the sky hundreds of feet above a rooftop.

"The reason we're so interested in developing standards is so that all manufacturers and operators play by one set of rules," Kenul said. "Right now, it's a little bit of the wild, wild west. Nobody knows what standards to build their platforms on and operate their platforms to. ASTM is addressing that."

Wierzbanowski says the committee expects acceptance of standards by individuals and businesses that want to operate unmanned systems for other than recreational purposes. And the standards will provide useful data to regulators worldwide. "Over the long term, these standards will become the catalyst for additional formal rulemaking," he says. "In the near- to mid-term these standards will be a key enabler to any entity that wants to fly an unmanned aircraft for commercial purposes."

Patricia Quigley is an award-winning journalist and public relations practitioner who has written for local, regional, national and international publications. She resides in southern New Jersey, where she earned a B.A. in communication and an M.A. in writing from Rowan University.