TV news-gathering gadgetry doesn’t get any sexier than the Camcopter S-100, a military-grade unmanned aircraft manufactured by the Austrian Schiebel Corp.
Now, thanks to Schiebel’s partnerships with the U.S. companies Brain Farm and Snaproll Media, both of which specialize in aerial photography, the Camcopter is capable of capturing high-def, broadcast-quality footage, while hovering over anything from wildfires and disaster zones to high-speed police chases.
The Camcopter is one of a growing array of UAS that are being developed for broadcasting, public safety, search and rescue, agriculture and other commercial applications — all in anticipation of new Federal Aviation Administration regulations authorizing and governing such uses.
UAS are a less costly and potentially more capable replacement for manned helicopters. But before ENG UAS routinely hover over burning buildings, broadcasters are beginning to realize they may have to fight a battle at the FAA and in Congress over when and how they can be deployed.
Matt Waite is a University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism professor who created the Drone Journalism Lab last November to study practical and ethical issues surrounding drones.
Housed in small, shared on-campus space, the lab received a $50,000 Knight Foundation grant to get underway. Waite says he’d ultimately like to get permission to operate UAS.
According to Waite, UAS are attractive on a number of levels and cost is among them. Their one-time expense is considerably less than operating manned helicopters, which can run into six figures every year. “If I can buy this for a half-million dollars, it’s still a savings,” Waite says. “From a business standpoint, it makes perfect sense.”
UAS can also be faster and easier to deploy than manned choppers, he says. “I can foresee a time when newsrooms have multiples of them.”
The UAS are essentially downsized aircraft, either fixed wing or helicopter-style, operated by remote control. They come in a variety of sizes and configurations with some small enough to fit into a trunk of a car. Prices range from several hundred thousand to $40,000.
The Camcopter looks lot like a conventional helicopter, complete with rotors, a vertical tail and two front legs to land on. It weighs just 243 pounds, stands 44 inches high and is about 10 feet long. It can fly up to six hours at 138 miles per hour.
It can be programmed to fly or operated remotely by people on the ground. “You’re not risking human life to get a great shot,” says Snaproll’s Preston Ryon.
With a starting price of about $400,000 according to Rotor & Wing magazine, the Campcopter is pretty much the top of the line of UAS suitable for broadcasting.
Under existing regulations, unmanned aircraft, including recreational models, are limited to flying below 400 feet and within sight of their operators. They also are prohibited from flying over heavily populated areas.
But a new law is changing that. Signed by President Obama in February, it requires the FAA to come up with licensing requirements and safety regulations for commercial drones flying far and wide by 2015. The agency predicts that by 2020, there could be 30,000 UAS in the American skies performing all kinds of jobs.
Meantime, Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who co-chairs the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucas, has drafted legislation intended to protect the privacy of people on the ground. One provision would establish a public website listing UAS licensees, as well as when and where they will be flying.
RTDNA Executive Director Mike Cavender doesn’t believe that putting UAS to work in news should cause much concern.
“To me, the potential for using UAS is just like the potential for using any other type of newsgathering equipment, whether it would be for helicopters or mobile news vans or hidden camera equipment,” he says. “All those are tools of the trade and the UAS to me is no different.”
Source: TV News Check