Drone use poised to expand to newsrooms despite FAA limits
The emerging technology has been used in wars, to deliver packages and, occasionally, for causing a ruckus, but the Federal Aviation Administration has also approved more than 200 commercial uses since September for movies, real estate and infrastructure.
Among those approvals, two companies identified newsgathering as their primary mission, according to the FAA website.
Las Vegas-based ArrowData said it’s looking to franchise its drone ability to news organizations.
The company wants to sell the drones to newsrooms and then train journalists to carry out an operation. It doesn’t have any contracts yet but said it is seeking out broadcast and newspaper outlets.
“It’s a tool that television is looking at — local television, national television, everybody’s looking at it,” said Ron Comings, who is the news director of KLAS-TV in Las Vegas and has been in talks with ArrowData.
But the practicality of using drones, formally known as unmanned aerial vehicles, to cover the news of the day is still murky.
The FAA has strict restrictions on drone operations, and a news organization would need deep pockets to afford the equipment and manpower for what is now a limited purpose.
Cinestar drones can cost as much as $50,000, depending on the intended use, said Ron Futrell, an ArrowData spokesman. The company, which got FAA approval two weeks ago, hasn’t worked out the training costs.
The FAA also requires at least a three-person crew to use a drone for news, including a licensed pilot to fly it, a camera operator to direct the footage and a spotter to manage the scene, officials said.
Meanwhile, the journalism bread-and-butter of breaking news probably can’t be covered by a drone.
Flights must be preapproved days in advance by the local airport and federal authorities, which will make covering unpredictable situations such as crime scenes and natural disasters nearly impossible.
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