FAA Drones & Crude by Rail

The FAA has been very vocal against the wide-spread use of drones despite their slow rule-making efforts. No doubt it’s not an easy thing; no one wants a drone taking pictures of them in their backyard or worse, in their messy-not-expecting-guest-so-haven’t-cleaned-the-apartment high rise. I had a slight chuckle at the FAA saluting National Model Aviation Day last week due to the lines between hobby aircraft and drones being increasingly blurred. The distinction between a drone and a model aircraft relies primarily on the hobby aspect of model aircraft, although in the past movies and TV shows have used model aircraft to film complex scenes at lower altitudes.

The FAA recently announced all of their test centers and now is looking to establish a Center of Excellence for drones in 2014 to provide a forum for academia, business, and government to all discuss these issues. In the meantime, the practical business opportunities that drones could be used for remain endless and limited. The ability to monitor pipelines, political borders, and physical infrastructure such as bridges are just a few areas that companies could benefit from drones. In the meantime take solace in the knowledge that testing continues to enable our cars to talk to each other.

Earlier this week Senator Durbin hosted a roundtable on the safety of crude by rail but it was not a work-together moment as the table was all elected or agency officials and took place a year and one day after the Lac-Megantic derailment and one day after the report on that incident was released in Canada. Regardless of if the crude has moved pipeline or rail, Business Insider is reporting that without that energy boom the American economy would be much worse off. With multiple pipes built, planned, and under construction—including ones to Illinois—the energy boom is in full swing.