PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
January 2014
21
The growing market of the non-metric use of UAS is due to the
fact that users found the following advantages in the UAS:
• Ease of data acquisition
• Increased ability to map difficult areas or small projects
• Expeditious data delivery
• Data sets may be acquired at reduced costs when com-
pared to traditional field survey or conventional aerial
mission
• It can be metric with some additional investment
Finally, one of the major obstacles facing the UAS market
that we need to acknowledge is not the limitation in technol-
ogy, as it is progressing rapidly, but the FAA regulations and
restrictions to flying UAS in the national airspace. Although
we all understand the FAA position on ensuring the safe
integration of UAS in the national airspace (NAS), the FAA
unfortunately is falling behind schedule on publishing the
necessary regulation and easing the airspace restrictions
for the UAS. The FAA managed during 2008 to publish an
interim document entitled “Interim Operational Approval
Guidance 08-01: Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations in
the U.S. National Airspace System” which can be obtained
from the following site:
).
The above document provided some guidelines on the FAA
restrictions for the UAS use. The following is a synopsis of
the guidelines as it comes in the published document:
• The applicability and process to be used in a UAS opera-
tional approval is dependent on whether the applicant is
a civil user or a public user. A public user is one that is
intrinsically governmental in nature (i.e., federal, state,
and local agencies). Public applicants should utilize the
Certificate of Authorization (COA) application process.
Civil applicants must apply for an airworthiness certificate.
• Civil applicants are required to apply for a special air-
worthiness certificate, typically, an experimental certif-
icate. This certificate is typically issued to industry and
manufacturers wishing to accomplish UAS research and
development, testing, crew training and market survey.
For the UAS to be considered airworthy, both the aircraft
and all the other associated support equipment of the UAS
must be in a condition for safe operation.
• Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA) is the autho-
rization to use the airspace by the UAS. Public agencies
are the only ones allowed to obtain flying rights through a
COA. No private business or civilian will be issued a COA.
A separate COA is needed for each project. COA processing
could take up to 60 days, and it is valid for one year.
As of today, all UAS are restricted to a flying altitude of
1,200 ft AGL or lower with the presence of a COA. Just last
November, the FAA finally took some serious steps to lay
the future roadmap for integrating the UAS in the U.S. NAS.
Although it is still far from reaching the freedom to fly a UAS
in the U.S. NAS, the new report paves the way to such a goal.
The report titled, “Integration of Civil Unmanned Aircraft
Systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS) Road-
map,” can be downloaded from the FAA website.
Until the FAA eases its restrictions on flying UAS by the
private industry, the use of the UAS for geospatial mapping
will be limited to small projects executed mainly on behalf of
the public agencies.
**Dr. Abdullah is Senior Geospatial Scientist at Woolpert,
Inc. He is the 2010 recipient of the ASPRS Photogrammetric
(Fairchild) Award.
The contents of this column reflect the views of the author,
who is responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data pre-
sented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the offi-
cial views or policies of the American Society for Photogram-
metry and Remote Sensing and/or Woolpert, Inc.
“Until the FAA eases its
restrictions on flying UAS
by the private industry,
the use of the UAS for
geospatial mapping will be
limited to small projects
executed mainly on behalf
of the public agencies.”
William T. Pecora Memorial
Remote Sensing Symposium
Pecora 19 “Sustaining Land Imaging:
UAVs to Satellites”
in conjunction with
The Joint Symposium of ISPRS Technical
Commission I & IAG Commission 4
November 17-20, 2014
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