Quadcopters in Russia and the USA

Welcome to the pages of the blog iCover . Flights of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and their registration procedure in the USA, Russia and other countries of the world are regulated by law today. This is understandable: large manufacturers, resellers and inventors of all stripes position their products as toys, but the technical capabilities of modern UAVs allow us to consider them as a full-fledged aircraft. This is indirectly confirmed by legislative terminology from the Air Code: “unmanned aircraft”, “unmanned aircraft system”, “commander of unmanned aircraft” and “external crew”. However, the ways to overcome and the nature of conflict situations, which have already developed in connection with the lack of a single legal field, can crush any healthy initiative. This affected businessman Oleg Ponfilenko from Syktyvkar, who successfully delivered pizza by drones to his first customers in the summer of 2014.

Financial reports on the annual results of world sales of drones indicate that in 2015 alone, about 4 million units of unmanned aerial vehicles were sold. 65% of them went to the USA and Europe, another 15% went to China, and the remaining 20% scattered to other countries, including Russia. About 70% of the global number of civilian UAVs today are concentrated in the United States. Not surprisingly, it is in the States that there is the most elaborate, albeit imperfect legislation. Until recently, it has not been determined in which areas and regions drones can fly, what equipment they can be equipped with, and which not, how they should be tracked from the ground, what measures regarding privacy protection should be taken. This gave freedom for creativity, both local authorities and pilots enthusiasts.

Some work in this direction has already been done both in the United States and beyond. Today we will retrospectively touch upon the topic of legal regulation of flights and the requirements for registration of quadcopters, which are currently set at the legislative level in Russia and the United States. We will also touch on the realities and prospects that, according to experts, the multicopter market opens.
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USA

In the US, quadcopters are registered by the owners themselves. The applicant sends the full name and contact information by e-mail, the information is entered into the database, and the owner is assigned a personal number. Registration with this number, the applicant receives a response email. All subsequent unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are assigned to the owner’s personal number. Registration is free, but will soon be paid. The amount is conditional - $ 5.

Russia

According to the Air Code of Russia (VC RF), a quadrocopter is an aircraft, like a Boeing or Superjet. Flight authorization issued RosAvatsiya. From March 30, the applicant is required to submit a flight plan and a pilot's license. That is, to launch any radio-controlled toy weighing 250 grams will entrust only a person with a touch of at least 50 hours, including night landings and instrument control.

Chronology

2011

September

USA : September 28, in the vicinity of Boston, the FBI arrests Rezvan Fergauz. He planned to blow up the building of the Capitol and the Pentagon with the help of an explosive delivered by quadcopter.

2012

February

USA : The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA, FAA) promises to establish rules for the use of drones for commercial purposes by the end of September 2015. For non-commercial purposes, flights are allowed at an altitude of up to 152 meters.

Russia : Aircraft lighter than 115 kg are considered super-light and are not subject to registration. With the detection system of other flying objects, UAVs can be launched in the flight space.

2013

February

USA : Hollywood asks for permission to shoot with quadcopters. The representative of the American Film Association Howard Gantman (Howard Gantman) appeals to the safety of filming with drones instead of cranes and helicopters.

In Virginia, they pass the first law restricting the municipal authorities to buy or rent any quadcopter.

June

USA : Drones are first used as couriers. In South Africa, they delivered beer, and in the United States - parcels by DHL.

August

USA : Certificate for commercial surveys is now issued only by the FAA. Before sponsors could certify - the main thing is that the drone should not be “nameless”.

October

USA : In Manhattan, a UAV hits several buildings and crashes. The owner is found on video recordings on the drone and fined $ 2,000 for flying in the forbidden zone and threatening the national airspace.

Following Virginia, UAV flight restrictions are imposed in the cities of Iowa and Minnesota.

December

Russia : The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announces future changes in legislation. Together with other ministries, they are developing new rules for the use of UAVs and make changes to the Air Code (RF VK).

2014

June

Russia : The transport prosecutor's office and the regional office of Gosavianadzor are making claims to the pizzeria in Syktyvkar, which managed to deliver 6 orders with the help of a drone. The prosecutor's office promises to fine a pizzeria 200 thousand rubles for violating the violation of the rules for using the airspace of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

September

USA : California Senate restricts law enforcement to use UAVs. With the exception of emergency cases, services are required to obtain permission to shoot.

October

Russia : The court fines the logistics company that delivered the pizza in Syktyvkar to 50 thousand rubles. Instead of violating the rules of flights in the airspace, companies incriminate cargo transportation by air without a license. However, in the RF VK there is no aircraft category suitable for drones, therefore a license for cargo transportation cannot be obtained.

December

USA : The FAA allows 4 companies to use drones for commercial purposes. The companies Trimble Navigation, Clayco and Woolpert design, build and repair buildings, and VDOS inspects the environment only with the help of UAVs.

2015

January

USA : Company CNN Channel - News Network - gets the right to shoot stories with drones. Representatives of the FAA declare that they will consider the possibility of unhindered news filming.

February

USA : New Jersey prohibits law enforcement officials from taking photos and videos from UAVs without permission, except in an emergency. The decree obliges to remove the footage within two weeks. Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin also restrict law enforcement agencies in the use of drones.

Barack Obama obliges law enforcement agencies to publicly disclose the places and purposes of filming with drones. The FAA reports that if the law is approved, approximately 7,000 companies will be able to withdraw from the UAV for commercial purposes.

March

Russia : The State Duma is considering a draft law on the registration of UAVs. If approved, the law will come into force in a year, and the category of unmanned aerial vehicles with a maximum take-off weight of 30 kilograms or less will appear in the Air Code.

June

Russia : The State Duma adopts the draft law on the registration of UAVs in the first reading. According to the bill, it is necessary to register aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of more than 30 kilograms.

December

USA : The FAA obliges the actual owners of UAVs to register devices heavier than 250 grams by February 19, 2016. Registration is simple: the owner sends passport data, phone number and model of the UAV by e-mail. Until the end of January, the service was provided free of charge, after this date - $ 5. For owners of a UAV under 13 years of age, parents register their devices or legal representatives; from the age of 13, you can register yourself. For a flight without registration, the owner will be fined up to $ 27 thousand, and if a drone without a number participates in a crime, the owner will face a fine of $ 250 thousand or a prison term of up to 3 years.

On December 21, the Federal Aviation Administration opened a special section on its website for drone owners who want to register their drones in the official registry. In the first two days alone, 45 thousand drones were registered.

Despite the serious restrictive measures taken by the government in coordination with the FAA, experts believe that the desire of the experiment and the lack of understanding of the possible consequences will lead to the fact that the adopted laws will be largely ineffective. The International Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems (AUVSI) thinks differently. However, to neutralize drones with the help of electronic suppression systems of the FAA to the emergency services prohibits.

Russia : The State Duma adopts the law on the registration of UAVs as amended.

The concepts of “unmanned aircraft”, “commander of an unmanned aircraft” and “external crew” appear in the Russian Federation's VC. The outer crew may consist of several pilots, the owner of the UAV appoints the commander of the vessel. The commander makes the final decisions about taking off, landing the drone, returning to the airfield or forced landing. All crew members are required to have a flight certificate. The law will come into force not a year later, but 90 days after its publication.

2016

February

USA : Following requests from Google and Amazon for permission to fly drones, the FAA collects a commission. Commission members will develop new flight rules for UAVs over densely populated areas and are more likely to meet the IT giants, approving flight rules for commercial purposes.

March

Russia : The law on the registration of UAVs comes into force heavier than 250 grams. Now the most famous series of quadrocopters DJI - Phantom and Inspire - must be registered. But it is possible to organize races and make new friends without flying IDs - quadcopters for racing from the first person (FPV) or amateur shooting , including shooting in HD , weigh less than 250 grams and do not require registration.

Work drone pilot in the United States. Prospects and realities

After the UAVs were integrated into the US airspace system, in just three years, 70,000 new jobs were created, directly or indirectly related to the UAV industry. According to estimates of specialists, after a year or two, the active use of drones for commercial purposes will make it possible to create an additional more than 100,000 new jobs. In this fairly commercial niche, professional drone pilots today receive a salary of up to $ 50 an hour or more. Therefore, the United States Federal Aviation Administration considers in detail all possible commercial ways to use them.

The number of areas where UAV capabilities can be used is growing in proportion to the technical development of the industry itself. For the assembly of drones, training of operators, directly for piloting for industrial purposes and further maintenance of the park requires a sufficiently high level of qualification. One of the most promising markets, where the capabilities of UAVs can be increasingly used in the very near future - precision farming. The ability to obtain operational information from the sky will allow farmers to optimize the process of growing crops and spraying methods, reducing the amount of fertilizer used.

The economic effect from the use of drones in agriculture in the United States at the end of 2015 amounted to $ 2 billion. Other promising areas where the copters could be successfully used are weather monitoring, cartography, oil and gas exploration, telecommunications, monitoring of habitats of wild animals, disaster relief, mountain aviation, cinema, sports broadcasting, the advertising industry and, of course, cargo delivery. Given the fact that today there are specialties that 25 years ago no one suspected, the possibilities listed are only the tip of the iceberg.

To obtain a drone pilot certificate today, it’s enough to complete a 50-hour course. Of course, to obtain the status of an UAV engineer you will need a master’s degree, and for appointing the captain of a mountain aviators team, in addition to the first class FAA medical certificate, you will need to meet more stringent flight hours requirements (including piloting drone in a team) Aviation (Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) Certificate) and others.

At the moment, American universities and colleges are already offering their first UAVs - educational elective programs, which differ in cost and direction in a wide range.

The starting salary of the drone pilot in the United States, according to data provided by the official website of the school of pilots , ranges from $ 50 to $ 60 thousand per year. The average is approaching $ 100,000. At the same time, it is highly likely that, operating outside the US, the drone operator will be able to receive significantly higher salaries. People who start a career as a drone pilot today will get significant advantages over those who take off in five years. UAV engineers, as a rule, earn more than the average pilots, while specialists providing maintenance, analytics processing and payload calculations can earn a little less.

Russian market of multicopterers

According to the most conservative estimates, the number of drones in Russia amounts to 50 thousand. But nobody can name the exact number of UAVs acquired during the year. According to available data, about 70% of purchases fell on the share of the most popular series of UAVs Phantom, while sales of Inspire drone series accounted for 10% of total sales. The share of professional models of custom assembly (Matrice and Spreading Wings) did not exceed 8% of the turnover, and the remaining 12% were “drones-toys” without cameras. At the same time, the territorial distribution of demand looks quite indicative: Moscow and St. Petersburg have become absolute leaders, while in other regions it is difficult to speak of an increase in sales activity. So for the millionth Volgograd for the entire last year only 2 drons were purchased.

What are the prospects for building a business in the multicopter market in Russia? Today, about 80% of the total number of owners have purchased UAVs for entertainment purposes. The Phantom series is difficult to rank as a professional aerial photography solution due to the technical constraints imposed on camera control. With some stretch, this solution can be considered Inspire-1, whose camera, although capable of providing recording with 4K resolution, can almost guarantee the quality result of shooting in difficult weather conditions, and even more at night, almost incapable. But with good lighting and skillful post-production to get a decent picture in 1080, that is, a commercial product, it is quite possible.

_{High Level photo agency}

The scope of drone as a means of professional photography is very diverse - from shooting architectural objects and industrial complexes to mass events, weddings and technical inspections by “experts in non-destructive testing” of hard-to-reach places, such as pipes for heat and power plants, radio masts, etc. works can be found through advertising agencies or by direct sales to interested organizations.

The insignificance of the share of custom solutions that can cope with their tasks in the domestic professional commercial market is associated primarily with an assembly cost of 600 thousand rubles and above. There is no firm confidence that the investment will pay off.

Low-budget video sequences of presentation clips from drones are completely affected by the same problems: “filled up” horizon, an excess of “gray”, “noise” and, of course, unprofessional editing. What is significant, such videos are quite common even in state corporations and large companies. But the quality products created with the use of aerial photography in the domestic market today is extremely small. On the other hand, the cost of a professional commercial in 200-300 thousand rubles for the overwhelming number of companies seems excessive. As a result, orders are sent to more compliant dilettantes, stamping low-quality video on the stream.

_{Video shot and edited by a professional cameraman.}

Already today one can plan another very promising direction for the development of the industry - advertising on drones. Test flights for promotional purposes have shown that the public is positive about this way of advertising the product, while attracting attention is guaranteed. According to experts, with the professional development of directions in the coming years, a new advertising trend can be formed. And a brilliant example of the opening opportunities is the commercial for Black Friday from the Camisaria Colombo store:

Somewhat more vague for the domestic market are the prospects for building a knowledge-intensive business related to designing new UAV models in accordance with the requirements of customers — rescue services, police, farmers, urban utilities, etc. Provided that the designer is legally protected, they could bring in a stable and permanent income.

Niche is waiting for professionals. The development of these areas in Russia is most directly dependent on government support for programs. Many professional teams were waiting for the adoption of a law allowing legalization of commercial activity, but its announced version, in their opinion, only complicates the situation. And how could it be otherwise, if the registrars themselves answer the questions addressed to the representatives of RosAviation, that “... they heard about such a law, but nobody knows how to register” ...

_{High Level photo agency}

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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/368649/

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