Drones in Today's CAP News

The demand for miniature drones, or sUAS (small Unmanned Aerial Systems), continues to grow as everyone from the U.S. military to law enforcement and private businesses seeks to use the latest technological advancements to aid their operations — and CAP is no exception.

Currently, 14 wings and 25 units are involved in field testing and training, with an eye toward establishing a full-fledged program in 2018.

https://www.cap.news/suas-program/

All the photos on this page show DJI drones. I thought they were not allowed for gov't and/or military use?

Desmarais said Civil Air Patrol’s goal is to at least have sUAS operational capability in every wing by 2020, adding he would not be surprised if CAP were to push to get at least one per incident command post, or more, down the line.

They did a survey not long ago asking how many CAP folks already were Part 107 pilots. Did they ever make those stats public?  I'd bet we already have a high number and could be "operational" almost immediately instead of 2020.

Oh wait .... someone has to write a SQTR sheet for it. That shoves it to 2025 maybe. 

I thought they were not allowed for gov't and/or military use?

Assuming that was the case, why would that affect CAP?

I thought they were not allowed for gov't and/or military use?

Assuming that was the case, why would that affect CAP?

Seems I remember an old thread here where "some folks" were going all OPSEC, saying CAP shouldn't use them since the AF doesn't.

Looks like that thinking didn't make it far. 

(Sitting here with a Part 107 ready and able. Have all the gear as well, but assume that will not be allowed , just as personal cameras are not for AP)

I thought they were not allowed for gov't and/or military use?

Assuming that was the case, why would that affect CAP?

Seems I remember an old thread here where "some folks" were going all OPSEC, saying CAP shouldn't use them since the AF doesn't.

Looks like that thinking didn't make it far. 

(Sitting here with a Part 107 ready and able. Have all the gear as well, but assume that will not be allowed , just as personal cameras are not for AP)

The point was that CAP is neither government nor military when using UAVs for AE exploration or internal pilot programs.

Any mission work is a different story, and may well depending on whether it's an AFAM or corporate mission and
who the customer is.

Also, you're probably referring to the Army "ban" on using DJI devices because of possible vulnerabilities injected by
foreign manufactures, which NOAA later found to be incorrect.  There doesn't appear to be any blanket prohibition
on gov or mil use of DJI products, and even if the Army doesn't like them, that has nothing to do with CAP.

The point was that CAP is neither government nor military when using UAVs for AE exploration or internal pilot programs. Any mission work is a different story, and may well depending on whether it's an AFAM or corporate mission and
who the customer is.

Yes, but the article today mentioned rescue work, so could be AFAM possibly ... I don't know:

Incredible potential .... Aside from homeland security operations, sUAS have the potential for use in post-disaster response missions, rescue efforts, damage assessment and general aerial reconnaissance.

Also, you're probably referring to the Army "ban" on using DJI devices because of possible vulnerabilities injected by
foreign manufactures, which NOAA later found to be incorrect.  There doesn't appear to be any blanket prohibition
on gov or mil use of DJI products, and even if the Army doesn't like them, that has nothing to do with CAP.

I had not heard the new NOAA information. Thanks. Glad to know.

All good info. I'm betting we have a high number of airplane pilots who on the side have already gotten their Part 107s, maybe some Airspace Exemptions and Waivers, and are already actively flying drones themselves, whether for hobby or business.

So ... it'll be interesting to see what hoops Hdqs makes all of us go through to get "CAP Qualified" so we can actually start using them for CAP when needed.

I had not heard the new NOAA information. Thanks. Glad to know.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/7/16106810/dji-drone-banned-government-study-data-safety

"NOAA’s tests found that the S-1000 presented no threat for data leakage. “The majority of transactions to the DJI servers were to login to DJI servers hosted at both Amazon Web Services and Linode to check for software updates. These transactions are quite common for software of this type, and nothing unusual was detected during the experiment,” the report states."

I missed the survey.   Part 107 sUAS pilot here as well.