John McGraw, Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), talks to an American University Radio in Washington about new regulations from the Obama administration concerning unmanned aircraft and U.S. airspace.
The explosion of unmanned aircraft systems also raises safety and privacy concerns. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) projects that 30,000 drones could be operating domestically by 2020.
The FAA Modernization and Reform Act, commonly known as the FAA Reauthorization Act. Orders the FAA to develop regulations for testing and licensing civilian drones by 2015. Investors believe the commercial market – adapting drones for photography, mapping or advertising uses—could someday be worth billions of dollars.
Law enforcement agencies like U.S. Customs and Border Protection already use drones to monitor the border and conduct counter-narcotics surveillance, operating modified versions of high-tech, expensive drones used on battlefields. Privacy advocates worry that the rapid domestic expansion of UAS technologies in commercial fields will increase surveillance and further erode the expectation of privacy. The FAA has also raised concerns about safety and licensing.
Source: YouTube, Kojo Nnandi Show