UAVs

1)   UAVs are currently being used in the civilian market for many things, including hurricane hunting, 3D mapping, wildlife protection, agriculture and search and rescue. The regulation of these UAVs are currently being figured out, but there was interim guidance given in 2008 and the FAA has continued to work on the matter.

2)   I absolutely see UAVs integrating into the NAS. I believe they will be used for all the things I listed above and more. The FAA will have to figure out how to make them safe and practical in the NAS though. I foresee some issues with safety and avoidance, misuse of the UAVs by those who have approval and use by those who do not have approval at all to use them.

3)   With military applications of UAVs, it has changed military strategy for the better. Our military are able to make better and more informed decisions, spare human life in dangerous missions and gather critical intelligence to be used at later times.  I believe that the integration of UAVs into the military has been just the same as many other things that the military adapts. A lot of money is put into the projects and through trial and error, they figure out what works and what doesn’t work.

4)   There are indeed UAV jobs that are available for civilians. One that I found was a job through Northrop Grumman that was not very hard to find at all.  As usual, the management side of things is not as easy to find a job but I managed to find one at General Atomics for a program manager in their UAV programs.