News reporting is about to take a revolutionary turn as The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grants media giant CNN waiver to make routine drone flights above crowds in a move seen an important milestone towards broader commercial use of remote-controlled aircraft.
The Part 107 waiver represents the first time the Federal Aviation Administration has awarded a waiver for unlimited flights of unmanned aerial vehicles over people, the news network said in a statement. FAA rules prohibit drone flights over people, but waivers are available when applicants can demonstrate no risk of injury.
According to David Vigilante, senior vice president of legal for CNN, “This waiver signifies a critical step forward not only for CNN’s UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) operations, but also the commercial UAS industry at large.”
New FAA regulations for commercial use of drones went into effect in August 2016, making it easier for pilots to use drones for everything from structural or crop inspection to search-and-rescue operations to film production.
The waiver will see CNN allowed to fly a Vantage Robotics Snap drone weighing 1.37 pounds and featuring four enclosed rotors to reduce the chance of injury. The device is designed to break apart and be snapped back together if it crashes.
While commenting on the development, CNN’s senior director of national news gathering technology, said the waiver “has a meaningful and practical application to our news gathering.”
It is worth knowing that under a comprehensive package of rules finalized last year, commercial drones weighing up to 55 pounds are generally allowed to fly during daylight hours within sight of the pilot and while avoiding people not associated with the flight.
The safety concern is that if a drone malfunctions or loses its remote link to the pilot, it could crash and hurt someone below or damage property.
But the FAA has approved experiments, such as flying at night and sending the drone farther away than the pilot can see.
“There is no doubt this is unique and a first,” said Mark Blanks, director of the FAA drone test site at Virginia Tech, which has been conducting studies for months about the severity of injuries from drone crashes and how to reduce them. “CNN would have had to provide to the FAA a compelling safety case that demonstrated that this particular aircraft, if it were to fall out of the sky, would not hurt someone.”
In a statement released by the FAA, “CNN received a waiver that permits news-gathering flights only in approved airspace using a drone equipped with enhanced safety features.”
Overall, the development is seen as been beneficial to news gathering, since a drone’s eye view of protests, demonstrations and other large groups would indeed aid in telling the story, and drone use means not having to locate and fly a helicopter whenever this is desired.
