Unregulated Drones/UAVs in Australian Airspace

[Zeus1980]

I have a question... What's the difference between a UAV and a Remote Control Aircraft being used at a local modellers airfield? They fly at high speed and can gain good altitude and yet are uncontrolled and you hear very little complaints about them with thousands out there. Just curious.....

[HRG]

In CASA's eyes nothing. In reality it is there are a number of differences.

Remote control:
- Controlled by a large organisation http://www.maaa.asn.au/ They have set fields, training, support and INSURANCE.
- Often can take along time to build, at a cost and with skill. Your hardly going to be stupid if you spent 6 months building your machine.

UAVs:
- People can easily operate these anywhere.
- They can be purchased at major stores. E.g. Harvey Norman.
- The price is getting cheaper and cheaper.
- Have a camera or attach a go pro. The facebook, youtube, gopro generation will go to great lengths to get that great shot and look cool to their friends.
- These are good to go out of the box, no training or knowledge required.


I'm sorry, but a few inaccuracies are in your statement: you say that radio controlled aircraft are controlled and that no idiot would buy one cause it takes six months to build.
You obviously haven't been to a hobby store recently... You can purchase a remote control plane or helicopter for less than $200.00 RTF (Ready To Fly) and can go to a park or field if you want and fly it. ..no regulators watching the sale of these aircraft. It doesn't take six months to assemble a foam plane.. Some which are capable of doing 150km hr...ducted fan foam jets...assembly time is more like an hour or so.. Helicopters are a little more expensive if they have collective pitch control etc .. I own a 2 remote helicopters which are less than $500 each, capable of 3d flight, which include controller with 2.4gHz which is around 1.5 km range. If you consider that in vertical elevation, that is 4921ft. And yet the drones you are talking about in Harvey Norman is a DJI phantom which you wouldn't be able to get for less than $600 at this stage. Then add a gimbal for camera stabilisation for $200, a GoPro camera at around $400. That all equates to $1200 so far, not including extra props, spare battery's, spares, carry cases etc. I don't think someone would invest that much money in a hobby without doing some research.

I would like to know how CASA is to regulate the sale of these aircraft, they would would have to regulate the import of all hobbies shop parts from china. Even if you regulate the Australian hobby shops you then have to regulate eBay, Amazon, sales as well...a task to big for CASA when they have problems regulating all things aviation. As much as you don't want to hear it...the drones are here to stay, and the technology is advancing quickly. Majority of people are saying drones are dangerous because of the supposed problems with the technology, no redundancies, etc... well that's isn't true as most now have GPS hold, return to home, stabilisation, auto level etc....yes there are anomalies that occur, but that's all technology unfortunately...I'm sure we all had the dreaded blue screen of death (Microsoft computer) for no apparent reason.... I don't see to many complaining when they step in a jet which basically is flown by a computer, and have been for the last 20 years if not longer. The problem isn't the aircraft, it's the odd few who spoil it for the rest of us, and we all know people like that.

[Zebt]

CASA has their draft proposal on the website, basically 2kg and above will require licence, below not. Simple case of risk assessment.

I fly a 2.5kg machine, with camera, which I built from scratch, I abide by all the rules and fully intend to obtain my operators certificate once the new regulations are put in place. However I hear about and see more and more idiots openly admitting they have no intention of abiding by the rules and often use the statement 'how are they going to catch me'. It's a valid question given the under resourced situation CASA faces at the moment. Personally I hope every single irresponsible 'DJI Phantom' idiot is heavily fined and banned from owning any future RPA.

[smouc430]

Good Day TFAL,

A quick question for you, do you have a commercial interest in the UAV industry?

Kind Regards,
SMOUC

[jetA1]

Just to show Australia doesn't have it too bad! haha
http://www.channel24.co.za/TV/News/Flying-camera-drones-in-South-Africa-banned-with-immediate-effect-20140530