Safety Steps Would Abound if You Let Us Test Drones, Amazon Tells FAA

Amazon envisions that one day, seeing its Amazon Prime Air drones in flight “will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today, resulting in enormous benefits for consumers,” said Wednesday’s petition, signed by Paul Misener, vice president-global public policy (http://1.usa.gov/1mGpH4C). The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), which has joined with CEA to prod the FAA to speed its rulemaking on commercial drones, declined comment.

As for CEA, Doug Johnson, vice president-technology policy, sidestepped comment specifically on the Amazon petition. But in an emailed statement Monday, Johnson said: “Lightweight commercial drone aircraft are poised to transform industries from online retail to film and photography to farming and even Internet signal delivery. It is crucial that we have an appropriate regulatory framework in place as soon as possible that supports this innovation, related job and economic growth, and U.S. policy leadership.” That seemed a subtle reference to a comment in the Amazon petition in which the company suggested it might take its R&D work overseas if the FAA denies its petition or lets it sit on the shelf. Lacking the regulatory green light to test drones outdoors the way it would like, Amazon said, “we have been limited to conducting R&D flights indoors or in other countries. Of course, Amazon would prefer to keep the focus, jobs, and investment of this important research and development initiative in the United States."

Amazon’s R&D operations “will provide for a level of safety that far exceeds the level of safety required by FAA for hobbyists and manufacturers of model aircraft,” the Amazon petition said. “Because Amazon’s desired testing operations could not possibly be conducted using conventional aircraft, the level of safety required of hobbyists and manufacturers of model aircraft is the appropriate comparison.” The FAA doesn’t permit operation of commercial drones, nor has it explained why recommended rules for their safe operation have sat on the shelf for five years without an agency rulemaking notice (CD March 31 p5). FAA representatives didn’t immediately comment on reports from the AIA and other industry groups that a rulemaking notice will be published in November. Amazon representatives didn’t immediately comment on their petition, which would be among the first filed at the FAA since industry groups reported mid-May that the FAA might soon expedite limited commercial operation of drones before federal rules are in place (CD May 14 p17).

Model Aircraft

The FAA generally doesn’t regulate model aircraft, but trusts oversight on their use to private groups such as the Academy of Model Aeronautics. AMA’s “safety code” prohibits flying model planes higher than 400 feet above ground level, but only when operated within three miles of an airport, unless the airport operator is notified (http://bit.ly/1noKjdL). Outside the three-mile radius, the AMA lists no such restrictions, but obliges the pilot-in-command (PIC) to “yield the right of way to all human-carrying aircraft."

Amazon would go several steps better than the hobbyists if granted an exemption to test its drones, the petition said. Its drones will weigh no more than 55 pounds, will be flown “within the visual line of sight of the operator and/or one or more observers,” and won’t stray higher than 400 feet off the ground, even if operated far from the nearest airport, it said. “The operations will be conducted in a confined area over isolated Amazon private property located a sufficient distance away” from densely populated areas or military installations, it said. Its PIC will hold an FAA private pilot certificate or “FAA-recognized equivalent,” it says.

Two extraordinary measures will reinforce “the integrity of the operating area” if high winds cause the drones to stray higher than 400 feet or outside the bounds of the test zone, Amazon’s petition said. “Geo-fencing” will keep the drones literally boxed in, it said. Geo-fencing “is a feature in a software program that uses GPS or radio frequency triangulation to define geographical boundaries,” it said. “A geo-fence is a virtual barrier, effectively an electronic box” in which the drones will be confined, it said.

A second measure, called “lost-link procedures,” will be used if the PIC loses command of his ship, Amazon said. “The operators and observers will maintain two-way communications with each other during all operations.” If those communications fail, “the operator will immediately conclude the operation,” the company said. Each drone “will safely stop operating and return automatically to a specific location on Amazon’s private property if the communications link is lost,” it said. For each drone, “the observer will have the ability to press a physical button, that will be within his/her reach at all times, that reduces power to the vehicle so as to force a controlled landing,” it said. “Both the hardware and communication for this safety system will be physically separate” from the drones’ flight control systems, it said.

In the last five months, Amazon has progressed to its ninth generation of drone development and has begun testing them for “agility, flight duration, redundancy, and sense-and-avoid sensors and algorithms,” it said. It’s capable of developing drones that can travel more than 50 miles an hour, and carry five-pound payloads, which would cover 86 percent of the products sold on Amazon. Amazon Prime Air as a service will be capable of delivering packages in 30 minutes or less, it says. Amazon Prime Air is “one invention we are incredibly passionate about,” the petition said. “We believe customers will love it, and we are committed to making Prime Air available to customers worldwide as soon as we are permitted to do so.”