Drone Club at UTA Libraries Updates

UTA Libraries’ Drone Club meetings have been suspended since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are keeping in touch on a Discord channel, and are making plans for when we can reconvene. There are several things in motion that will shape the future of the drone club, and we are in the process of synthesizing those moving parts into a model for any library interested in starting a similar program. These include the UTA UAV Policy (pending), the FAA rules for recreational flyers, UTA Libraries’ drone lending policy (pending), the development of basic safety and flight training sessions, becoming an officially registered Community Based Organization with the FAA, and becoming an officially registered student organization on campus. Here are the latest updates on each of those topics.

A while back, I contacted University Legal Affairs to inquire about the existence of a campus drone policy. I received a response from one of UTA’s attorneys who said she was currently in the process of drafting a UAV/Drone policy for our campus, and she invited me to join the UAV community stakeholders committee that she had formed. The committee comprised stakeholders from campus security, from the office that manages requests for commercial photography on campus, from UTARI, and from other researchers and instructors who use drones in their programs. Now with the Libraries represented too, the attorney sought to draft a policy that would meet all of our needs, while also being aligned with official FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) regulations. We have gone through three iterations of the policy and the final version is presently pending approval.

The FAA established new rules over the last two years for the growing number of regular people who want to legally fly drones in FAA-protected airspace. The FAA is trying to make it easier for these individual flyers to participate in the activity. Prior to these rules, the FAA mandated that any UAV operator, including those purchasing drones for recreational use, had to go through a pilot training course, pass an exam, and earn a pilot’s license before being allowed to fly. This posed an undue burden on the budding recreational drone market, and was an incredible expense of time and money for the average person who only wanted to fly for fun. The original law was written for commercial operators of drones, before the market had developed and there were few consumers using them.

The new law allows recreational flyers to operate their drones without first getting a license and without having to pass the commercial pilots test. It lists some basic safety rules that recreational flyers must adhere to, and provides a system for finding out where it is legal to fly, and to request permission to fly in restricted airspace, such as near airports. The system, called Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC), is a real-time system for finding areas to fly without getting permission first, and other areas that do require permission. Permission to fly in those areas can be requested and approved directly through LAANC, and takes only seconds using the KittyHawk App.

According to the aforementioned UTA UAV Policy draft, the drone club is allowed to operate under the FAA Rules for Recreational Flyers. This means we can only use drones for recreational purposes when flying outdoors. Neither drone club members nor borrowers of the Libraries’ drones may use our drones for commercial purposes or certain research purposes. Students using the drones for a class project or a homework assignment are allowed to do that. They may not, however, use the drones for any officially sanctioned, grant-funded or otherwise, research taking place through our academic and research programs.

Once our campus-wide policy is in place, the Libraries can move forward to finalize our own policy on drone lending. As with the UTA UAV Policy, it is not yet in its final form. Among other things that will be required by the borrower is to have completed basic drone safety training and basic flight training, both of which will be offered by the Libraries.

We are presently developing basic drone safety training and basic flight training sessions that we intend to offer starting at the beginning of fall 2020 semester, or whenever classes resume on campus post-COVID-19. The FAA requires all recreational users of drones to first complete safety and flight training (this is not the same as getting a pilot’s license, as described earlier). The FAA is formalizing what this training should include and have posted draft training resources on their website. They encourage community based drone organizations to develop their own safety and flight training programs, as long as those programs follow all FAA rules, regulations and guidelines, include their draft training resources.

UTA Libraries purchased four small, inexpensive quadcopters that will be available for loan and training purposes. Over the summer we are learning how to use them, and once we are back in operation, we will be able to provide training at point of need. The Libraries is currently undergoing some summer renovations, one of which will be to install a 16x16 foot drone cage, so that we can safely fly the drones and provide training right inside the library.

The FAA is also developing a registration system for drone community based organizations (CBOs). When the FAA has brought that registration system online, UTA Libraries will apply to become officially recognized as a community based organization. The FAA is encouraging CBOs to go ahead and get started and not to wait for their registration system to come online. They provide information about the responsibilities of CBOs on their website and the registration system will simply serve as a way to bring all CBOs under a common roof.

Finally, there is an interest among drone club participants to start an official drone club through UTA’s Office of Student Organizations. Currently, no UTA student organization exists for the purposes of drone hobbyists, enthusiasts, or those curious about and wanting to learn more about drones. A registered student organization would qualify for a small amount of funding each semester, which may be useful toward purchasing parts and supplies. In addition to that funding, we would be allowed to promote and raise funds for the club on campus. Finally, we would be able to host activities and events on campus that are not necessarily held in the Libraries. We have our paperwork in order for becoming officially recognized, but because of COVID-19 we are waiting for campus to reopen before submitting it.

Those are all of my updates for today. If you are interested in participating in Drone Club, or if you would like more information about anything mentioned here, you can email Martin Wallace (me) and I will send you an invitation to join our Discord channel.

Here is a video made by one of our student employees, Nicolas McClintic, who will be one of our drone lending and training consultants beginning fall 2020. .