Rise of the Drones - Commercial use to increase
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Rise of the Drones
| Managing the Unique Risks Associated with Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) |
| Drones, or Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), used to be primarily associated with military operations. Today, compact versions are increasingly operating in everyday life and the UAS industry is fast becoming a multi-billion dollar business, as the benefits to be gained from utilizing such innovative technology become apparent. Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or UAS, have the potential to both solve problems and save costs in future across a number of industries, throughout the developing world and in disaster relief scenarios. Growth projections for the sector are significant as UAS become cheaper to purchase, smaller in size and easier to operate. In fact, the UAS industry is regarded by many as the most dynamic growth sector of the global aerospace industry. However, as civilian and commercial use of UAS rapidly increases and continues to evolve, the potential for misuse of this technology needs to be considered. Advances in technology are inevitably accompanied by a host of new and little understood risks. There have already been enough incidents and near-misses to date involving UAS to generate concern that the likelihood of collisions and other loss events will grow as UAS numbers multiply. This Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) report examines the key issues and trends underpinning rapid growth in usage of UAS and provides insight into the potential risk exposures related to their deployment in the private, public and commercial realms. What is a UAS or UAV? Widely referred to by the public as "drones", unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) are piloted remotely on the ground via control stations. They are also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) and remotely piloted aerial systems (RPAS), to name a few of the most common terms. UAS can range in size from micro surveillance vehicles that can fit in the palm of the hand to the RQ-4 Global Hawk, a 7.5 ton jet-engine powered aircraft capable of flying 30+ hours non-stop. This paper will refer to these vehicles (singular or plural) as UAS. UAS technology was rooted first in military development, remote tracking and reconnaissance applications. The first drones, unmanned balloons loaded with explosives and sent with the prevailing winds toward enemy targets, were in use around 1860. Civilian UAS applications have grown exponentially in the last few years, especially the small (less than 3 lbs.) units that cost from $500 to $2,000. Different Uses of UAS / UAV Although UAS have been used for years, it is only today that they are coming into their own in a commercial sense. Typically, UAS work best and are most often deployed conducting dull, dirty or dangerous work that companies do not want to invest an employee to complete – risk assessment and maintenance of infrastructure such as inspections of roofs and bridges, for example. UAS can be easier to use, have a lower barrier to entry and are a relatively safe and inexpensive way to take “a view from above” compared with other solutions. UAS in commercial use will increase greatly in the next decade because they’re effective at carrying out menial or dangerous tasks,” says Thomas Kriesmann, Senior Underwriter General Aviation, AGCS. They are cheaper and can replace dangerous working conditions, while supplying a convenient wide-area perspective of hard-to-reach places like swamps or mines. They can be used to survey crops, patrol borders, provide reconnaissance for search and rescue missions, report on traffic patterns or news stories, survey wildlife, patrol pipelines, provide an advance warning system for ice breakers, survey oil spills, enforce environmental law, regulate fisheries, shoot footage for movies and provide disaster relief. Read more: Click to read the full article here - eg Regulation, Liability, the Risk Landscape, Privacy Issues and more. |
 Drones (or UAV/UAS ) - Commercial use will increase greatly in future |
| Credit To: Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS). (2016, September). Rise of the Drones. Insurance Gateway. Retrieved from: https://www.insurancegateway.co.za/ShorttermProfessionals/KnowledgeBase/ItemDetails/Irn=328&URL=Drones+and+Insurance+Articles+and+Presentations#.WoQsb4NuaM9 |
 Refer to the Drone, UAV, UAS or Remotely Piloted Aircraft insurance article |
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