Alabama Closer To Statewide Drone Use
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The FAA announced last week that it’s working to expand the use of commercial drones.
That’s a good thing for the state’s unmanned aeiral system council, who’s following their lead and working on policy and procedures for state operated drones.
John Eagerton sits on the council and says it’s a lot of work to keep up with the changes.
“We want to make sure that those state employees are out using unmanned aerial systems, whether it’s in law enforcement, conservation, forestry, emergency response, are operating them in a manner that’s as consistent with federal requirements that we can make it right now,” said Eagerton.
Some states, like North Carolina, are banning drones until they learn more about the new technology.
But Alabama is taking a different approach, even with incidents like a drone caught above the birmingham airport.
“It was in the traffic pattern of the birmingham airport. The FAA was able to track him down through the pictures he posted on various sites on the internet. Those are the kinds of operations with unmanned aerial systems that really concern everybody that’s trying to operate these drones responsibly,” said Eagerton.
As the council continues to define how drones are used in Alabama, Eagerton says privacy is one of the main focuses.
“We certainly don’t want to create an atmosphere where people feel like unmanned aerial systems are looking in their windows. We don’t want there to be a problem with privacy violations and that’s something we’re very serious about,” said Eagerton.
