Leading agriculture advocate for UAV flight Chad Colby (right) with the 360 Yield Center demonstrates the technology to high school students. (Carrie Muehling/WJBC)
By Carrie Muehling
BLOOMINGTON – Proposed rules from the Federal Aviation Administration offer guidelines for those wanting to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) commercially in agriculture and other industries.
“That process has been very cumbersome and very expensive,” said Chad Colby, product support for the 360 Yield Center and a leading agriculture advocate for UAV flight. “What the FAA came out with now is basically some guidelines that they’re proposing obviously to go into law here. We’re not sure on the time frame.”
A 60-day comment period follows the FAA announcement, which came Sunday. The proposal includes a number of rules:
- UAV must be under 55 lbs.
- Flight is restricted to daylight hours
- UAV must remain in view of the operator
- UAV must be registered
- Operators must be at least 17 years old
- Operators must pass FAA tests and be certified with renewal required every 24 months
- Operators must pass a TSA background check
- UVA must not be flown over people
Other rules will guide operators as to how quickly a problem must be reported and outline restrictions about where UAV can be flown. Machines must be operated in a safe manner and anything deemed reckless by the FAA could be subject to a fine, penalty or revocation of flight privileges.
Colby said there is a growing excitement in the agriculture community for use of unmanned systems. But the United States has been lagging on the policy side, largely because it hosts the busiest airspace in the world.
“I think it’s important to understand that the FAA does need to do this correctly. There’s too much at risk. Here in the United States, certainly we all take for granted how safe our airspace is. And we don’t want to give that up at all. There are concerns, right? We’ve got privacy and safety and all of those things. I certainly would not one of these platforms flying over my daughter’s football game 15 years from now. That does not sound fun to me at all,” said Colby. “But to fly over a cornfield and help a grower do a better job managing his resources and reducing crop inputs such as chemicals and fertilizers – oh, man. How could you not get excited about that technology?”
Colby likes the FAA proposal, which would apply to commercial uses in agriculture and other industries.
“It’s a real exciting time for agriculture. Things are going to happen. It’s kind of like the cell phone. It’s kind of like an iPad. In April, our iPads are going to be just five years old. And when you think about how far they have come in just five years, I think in two or three years once this new rule gets passed from the FAA, I think we’re going to be able to do new things in agriculture that literally have never been done before,” said Colby.
Colby said many farmers have already adopted UAV technology for personal use on the farm, and things are changing quickly.
“One of them is an application where a grower can have his unmanned ship… so while the ship is flying across your field, it would actually upload the data to the cloud and then in a matter of 10 or 15 minutes from the field, give you the image data right there in the field and then obviously, the grower could go out,” said Colby.
Cameras and sensors are also getting more sophisticated, and the cost continues to come down. Colby said a year ago cameras that would cost $35,000 to $50,000 now are available for as little as $6,000. New technologies can help growers save on inputs during a time when commodity prices have dropped and farmers are dealing with tighter margins on the farm.
Carrie Muehling can be reached at [email protected].
