Predator drones have been used by the military for quite some time now, to capture footage of terrorists in the mountains of Pakistan, and even kill them sometimes (along with however happens to be within a ten feet radius). These headline-grabbing drones can rein hells fire from miles up in the air and are so good at killing that the Army nearly started honoring them with special medals as well.
But apart from spying on world leaders, ejaculating death from above and killing the-most-wanted-terrorist-ever (USA! USA! USA!), it is heartening to see that these death bots (along with our troops) are finding their back home. Here is something which you probably didn’t know these rocket planes that zip across the sky.
In an historic decision for one of the latest technologies, the Federal Aviation Agency or the FAA recently announced that they would allow six production companies to use drones in the film making process. In what is being considered as a ‘significant milestone’ by FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, who have received a flood of other useful applications from monitoring pipelines in the Arctic to helping seniors navigate through traffic.
Drones in the Movies
It seems like a reasonable thing to do since the use of drones were applied in the making of some big budget Hollywood productions over the past couple of years, case in point, Transformers, Skyfall and the Harry Potter series amongst others. This recent announcement by the FAA has also come with its own set of rules and regulations which have to be followed by the TV and film production companies who will be using these drones. For instance, the FAA has stated that no company will be allowed to fly the commercial drones higher than 400 feet, and that the use of drones will only take place in controlled areas. Other rules also include the drones being operated only by experienced and licensed pilots and the drones need to be inspected prior to each flight.
So, Who Else Got the Deal?
The FAA has also been considering other requests for the use of commercial drones within American air space, by companies and even farmers who want the low-cost convenience of drones. Recently, Oil giant BP became the first to be granted permission for the use of drones to monitor its pipelines in Alaska. According to news on some of these latest technologies, the FAA has also announced that other similar exemptions could be made for the use of commercial drones in the energy and agriculture sector, but they did also stress that there are safety concerns of others flying in American airspace, especially other aircrafts, and drones would only e accepted for use in isolated environments away from crowded or populated areas.
Ending Note
In the end, the fact is that drones are here to stay and the use of commercial drones is only going to get more common because of its low-cost benefits. In the meantime, other proposals are also being looked into by the FAA which involve the use of smaller drones, weighing as low as 55 pounds.