psdj letter to faa arc on bvlos uas

8/10/2019 PSDJ letter to FAA ARC on BVLOS UAS

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The Professional Society of Drone Journalists

2001 Sheffield RoadOklahoma City, OK 73210Dronejournalism.org

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Dear Mr. Mickey Osterreicher, Esq.,

The board members of the Professional Society of Drone Journalists (PSDJ) thanks you for yourlongstanding support of journalists worldwide, through your leadership of the National PressPhotographers Association, your history of defending photojournalists, and your belief in therights of the free press to use unmanned aircraft systems. We congratulate you on your recentappointment to the Federal Aviation Administrations Advisory Rulemaking Committee (ARC)for Beyond Visual Line Of Site (BVLOS) UAS operations.

As we discussed in previous emails, the PSDJ is grateful to submit recommendations andevidence to inform this critical part of the FAA s rulemaking process. These recommendationswere approved by the PSDJ Board of Directors during its December 18 meeting. As ourmembers are most experienced with operating small UAS (sUAS) weighing less than 55 pounds,

please note that we only mean to propose rules governing BVLOS operation of sUAS at thistime.

Our recommendations for BVLOS regulations are as follows:

1) Both the Supreme Court (in Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia ) and the Seventh Circuit Court(in ACLU of Illinois v. Alvarez ) have recognized the First Amendment grants the public the rightto record public events. Additionally, as was stated by the FAA itself in its final privacyrequirements for UAS test sites (Docket No. FAA-2013-0061), the FAAs mission first andforemost is to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world and does notinclude regulating privacy. As such, the FAA should make no rule that restricts the press fromgathering or publishing the photographic or other sensory data collected by sUAS based on

privacy concerns alone.

2) The FAA is required, according to the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, not only to provide forthe safe and efficient use of the airspace by both civil and military aircraft , but also to giveconsideration to the public right of freedom of transit through the navigable airspace. ( Sec.306). As such, the FAA should not promulgate rules that infringe on the rights of journalists tohave freedom of transit for their UAS, or must at least not infringe on that right beyond what isreasonably required for a safe and efficient airspace system.

3) To regulate the use of the air below safe navigable altitude (navigable airspace) violates the property owners rig ht to make use of his or her land, and constitutes a navigation easement (seeUnited States v. Causby ). Additionally, the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 gives the FAAAdministrator authority only to formulate policy for navigable airspace (Sec. 307(a)). As such,FAA should make no rule that restricts journalists from flying small UAS over private land,

below safe navigable altitude for manned aircraft, when they have received permission from theland owner to do so. The FAA should only promulgate sUAS BVLOS rules for flights incontrolled airspace.


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4) All rules promulgated concerning UAS, BVLOS or otherwise, should be based on the risk tothe National Airspace System (NAS). If the ARC lacks a risk model based in actuarial science, itshould seek the guidance of an independent, actuarial expert to assess the risk of accident in real,mathematical and financial terms. ( See for example Lum, C., Waggoner, B. A Risked Based

Paradigm and Model for Unmanned Aerial Systems in the National Airspace System, presentedat Infotech Aerospace 2011, 29-31 March, 2011. Retrieved fromhttp://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2011-1424 )

5) The distance the UAS operator is from the aircraft does not, in and of itself, make the UAS airunworthy. Rather, what affects the risk of the operation is the quality of the control link andthe situational awareness compromised by distance to the aircraft. Therefore, any sUAS airframethat is cleared to fly within VLOS of the operator, below 400 feet AGL of unpopulated areas or

below 1,000 feet AGL of populated areas, should still be airworthy flown BVLOS at the samealtitude.

6) As control link quality and situational awareness are of primary concern with BVLOSoperations, airworthiness for sUAS should focus on the strength and fidelity of the control signal,aids that enhance the operators ability to sense and avoid other aircraft, the airworthiness andintegrity of the vehicle, and mechanisms to recall the aircraft in the event of a control link loss.Therefore, BVLOS sUAS should be equipped with a) an ADS-B transponder, b) a control linkusing frequency-hopping transceivers of a sufficient power to maintain contact throughout theflight, and c) software and/or hardware to enable a return to VLOS range in the event of a controllink loss. Additionally, the pilot in command must at all times have the appropriate informationto determine altitude, heading, speed and geographic coordinates of the sUAS. At least one

person affiliated with any BVLOS sUAS operation (who is not necessarily the pilot in command)must have an ADS-B receiver and display capable of monitoring air traffic within 10 nauticalmiles of the sUAS, and must also have a device capable of communicating with the nearest airtraffic control.

7) The expected training of the sUAS operator for BVLOS flights conducted under safe altitudefor manned aircraft should match the skills required to pilot the sUAS, and the sUAS alone,safely. Therefore, no private pilots lice nse for manned aircraft should be required, as thistraining traditionally does not educate individuals on the intricacies and differences in smallunmanned aircraft. Training in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk, for example, tells the student nothingmore about operating a small hexcopter-type UAS than would small hexcopter training tell astudent about how to operate a Cessna 172. Only the logged time operating the designated sUAS,or an aircraft of similar type and size, should determine whether a pilot is adequately trained tofly sUAS. However, sUAS pilots should pass ground school (14 CFR Part 141 Training) in orderto learn about the national airspace system, and how to communicate with air traffic control, andgeneral aeronautical knowledge, in the unlikely event the sUAS malfunctions during flight.
http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2011-1424http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2011-1424http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2011-1424


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8) In order to ensure accountability of operators, the sUAS must clearly display the currentcontact information of the operator. Additionally, it is required that either the sUAS or groundcontrol station record data of the entire duration of the flight, including the altitude, location, andstatus of the vehicles batteries.

9) Finally, we propose BVLOS operations should be defined by a set distance of 1,000horizontal feet between the operator and the aircraft. Such a rule is consistent with the FAAshaving clearly defined a minimum safe altitude for flight in terms of a real, measurable number(14 CFR Part 91.119) This provides unambiguous regulatory guidance for UAS operators and

prevents any potential misunderstanding that could impact the safety of the NAS.

The PSDJ thanks you for your time and attention on this, and wishes you success on the FAAARC for BVLOS Operations.

Sincerely,

Matthew SchroyerPresident, USA

Ian HannahVice President, Canada

Caleb ScottBoard Member, USA

Parker GyokeresBoard Member, USA

psdj letter to faa arc on bvlos uas

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