Written by new-contact on May 7, 2015. Posted in On Location

US authority makes new plans to expand drone filming

America’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has formed new partnerships with three major companies to look into ways to safely increase the use of unmanned drones in US airspace. The use of drones is tightly regulated by US authorities.

Drones are widely used around the world for filmmaking purposes as a cheaper, safer and more flexible alternative to helicopter and fixed-wing shooting.

In the US the use of drones is tightly restricted and a blanket ban on using the devices for commercial filming was only recently relaxed for half a dozen companies.

Using drones – or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) – over populated areas is a major safety concern for the FAA. The organisation will work with cable news network CNN to look into how the devices could be used in this context for newsgathering purposes.

The FAA will also work with different companies to look into how drones might be used for industrial purposes in rural and remote parts of the country.

“Even as we pursue our current rulemaking effort for small unmanned aircraft, we must continue to actively look for future ways to expand non-recreational UAS uses,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.

“This new initiative involving three leading US companies will help us anticipate and address the needs of the evolving UAS industry.”

“Government has some of the best and brightest minds in aviation, but we can’t operate in a vacuum,” added US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

“This is a big job, and we’ll get to our goal of safe, widespread UAS integration more quickly by leveraging the resources and expertise of the industry.”

(Images: Cloud 12, Corey Rich Productions, Dedicam of Switzerland)