The Right Angle Men's Club met on February
12, 2015 to enjoy camaraderie, a plated lunch and to listen to Stephen Myers from
Angel Eyes UAV. Mr. Myers is the president of the company that focuses on
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or DRONES.
The meeting kicked off with the Pledge
of Allegiance, a 50/50 raffle and the introduction of our guest speaker by Bill
Cooper. After opening remarks, Mr. Myers
discussion of UAVs covered the following major topics:
1 1)
UAV definitions and classification
2 2)
Legal aspects and implication of UAVs
3 3)
Application and use of drone (UAV)
technology
Some of the key points from his
discussion were:
Unmanned Ariel Systems have been in use
since WWII when balloons were used to drop bombs. UAVs are ideal for use with
tasks that humans should not be involved with because they are one of the
“4Ds”- Dull, Dirty, Dangerous or Difficult.
There is much grey area today with
regulation of UAVs. The confusion is due to both the lack of regulation and
many commercial and non-commercial uses of UAVs. While the US lags other
countries, Florida is very friendly to the aviation industry. There are many
issues with UAVs including detection and avoidance, spectrum, secure GPS and
certification.
The uses for UAVs include:
1 1)
Detecting hot spots on houses or
commercial buildings.
2 2) Multi-spectral detection for crop
growth and vegetation, including golf courses.
3 3)
Volumetric studies.
4 4)
Corona discharge for electric wires.
In the future, you can expect more
safety features for UAVs including parachutes, personal airspace protection,
deterrents for flight interruption and capability to block jamming of UAV
control transmission.
Mr.
Myers answered several questions and concerns from our members including the FAA's proposed laws.
The following link contains a summary of the FAA’s suggestions
for proposed laws:
The meeting was adjourned at
approximately 1:30 with Paul L’Esperance announcing the next meeting date and
speaker.
