5 ms·

> Neither does the US in an overwhelming majority of airspace under 10,000’MSL. You are of course correct. But that's getting into the finer details of the FAR

by tjohns 5y ago

> Neither does the US in an overwhelming majority of airspace under 10,000’MSL. You are of course correct. But that's getting into the finer details of the FARs, and there's only so much comment space here. We could also talk about aircraft which don't have an electrical system. ;) I did mention that not everyone in the US was equipped, which seemed sufficient. > “See and avoid” is the law in VMC, not “sense and avoid”. "Sense-and-avoid" actually is the the correct term in this case. This is part of how the FAA wants to integrate commercial drones into the NAS. The idea is that future drones will have an ADS-B receiver and maneuver to avoid known traffic. See the section on "detect and avoid" strategies here: https://www.faa.gov/uas/research_development/information_papers/ https://www.faa.gov/uas/research_development/information_pap... Though again, as mentioned... there are a good number of aircraft are not equipped, so this doesn't cover all possible cases.

sokoloff 5y ago
Thanks for the links to the FAA UAS research and certification work. Sense and avoid is indeed correct in the research being done (though not yet the active federal law governing airspace). You did mention some aircraft are not equipped with transponders, which I took to mean the common use of the term in aviation: a 4096 code mode A/C transponder, not ADS-B out. Slightly under half of general aviation aircraft are not equipped for ADS-B out (the overwhelming majority of these do have a transponder) and at this point, it seems fair to conclude most of those will never be equipped. (If you chose not to equip for the Jan 2, 2020 requirement, all that would compel you now to take on the upfront and recurring expenses associated would be change in usage requiring regular access to 91.225 airspace. In fact, for many non-ADS-B out airplanes, 4096 code transponders now provide little value, so the first time they need non-trivial maintenance, I’d expect some portion of those to be removed instead of repaired because they’re now primarily a convenience item and don’t on their own provide access to any airspace by rule.) I can readily imagine a future where UAS operations are allowed under 500’ AGL over cities (aircraft are already blocked from operating there except during takeoff and landing). I don’t expect a near-future where class E airspace is open to drones unable to reliably see/sense and avoid aircraft that don’t have ADS-B out. There’s just too many such aircraft and will be for decades to come unless 91.225 is substantially expanded.

by tjohns 5y ago

sokoloff 5y ago

Thanks for the links to the FAA UAS research and certification work. Sense and avoid is indeed correct in the research being done (though not yet the active federal law governing airspace). You did mention some aircraft are not equipped with transponders, which I took to mean the common use of the term in aviation: a 4096 code mode A/C transponder, not ADS-B out. Slightly under half of general aviation aircraft are not equipped for ADS-B out (the overwhelming majority of these do have a transponder) and at this point, it seems fair to conclude most of those will never be equipped. (If you chose not to equip for the Jan 2, 2020 requirement, all that would compel you now to take on the upfront and recurring expenses associated would be change in usage requiring regular access to 91.225 airspace. In fact, for many non-ADS-B out airplanes, 4096 code transponders now provide little value, so the first time they need non-trivial maintenance, I’d expect some portion of those to be removed instead of repaired because they’re now primarily a convenience item and don’t on their own provide access to any airspace by rule.) I can readily imagine a future where UAS operations are allowed under 500’ AGL over cities (aircraft are already blocked from operating there except during takeoff and landing). I don’t expect a near-future where class E airspace is open to drones unable to reliably see/sense and avoid aircraft that don’t have ADS-B out. There’s just too many such aircraft and will be for decades to come unless 91.225 is substantially expanded.