“The drone industry — in 2014 — delivered enough units to more than double the entire number of aircraft in the United States,” says NoFlyZone.org founder Ben Marcus. “And that, for many people, is a privacy issue.” With that, Marcus — an ATP-rated pilot, flight instructor and co-founder of aircraft brokerage firm jetAVIVA, launched NoFlyZone. org. “Most of the major drone manufacturers are including a no-fly database of airports in their software,” he noted. “We are adding other types of sites to the no-fly database, including individually opted-out properties.” Anyone interested in creating a “No Fly Zone” over their home can go to No- FlyZone.org, provide their name, address and email. That information will be entered into a database remotely-piloted aircraft (RPA) makers are baking into their controller software. Once built out, RPA that include No- FlyZone data will not be able to takeoff within or if already airborne not be able to penetrate the airspace over individually opted-out properties. “The RPA industry has safety in mind and is taking a leadership role to integrate into the National Airspace System (NAS),” noted Marcus. “We are not dependent on regulators. We are willing — in fact, need — to self-regulate.” Self-regulation has worked in the radio controlled model industry for decades. But as the RPA industry has taken off in recent years, the mainstream media — doing what it does best — highlights the negative rather than the positives and potential of RPA. “I had a great time at jetAVIVA. We had a great team and lots of fun. Flying single-pilot jets all over the world was an honor and pleasure,” continued Marcus.
“But seeing the explosive growth of the drones, I yearned for something truly significant
in my career.” Marcus has owned a Yuneec Q500 quadcopter for awhile. He’s enjoyed teaching
lots of people how to fly it. “Invariably, the first thing they ask after a short flight is, ‘what about privacy?’” he noted. Whether a person’s privacy concern is real or perceived, Marcus desires to “create a solution.” From a TechCrunch story on NoFlyZone’s launch: “Among the partners
in this effort are EHANG (the company behind the Ghost drone), Horizon Hobby, DroneDeploy, YUNEEC, HEXO+, Pixie- Path and RCFlyMaps.” And they won’t be the only ones. As NoFlyZone gains more momentum, others will no doubt sign on. The data needs of the RPA industry are different than full-scale aviation. Once airborne, full-scale aircraft are — typically — far above sensitive airspace. NoFlyZone has built up a “highly accurate database of civil and military airspace, as well as schools, industrial sites, power plants and more,” according to Marcus. Ultimately, he said he would like to see NoFlyZone become the Jeppesen of RPA
data.
“But seeing the explosive growth of the drones, I yearned for something truly significant
in my career.” Marcus has owned a Yuneec Q500 quadcopter for awhile. He’s enjoyed teaching
lots of people how to fly it. “Invariably, the first thing they ask after a short flight is, ‘what about privacy?’” he noted. Whether a person’s privacy concern is real or perceived, Marcus desires to “create a solution.” From a TechCrunch story on NoFlyZone’s launch: “Among the partners
in this effort are EHANG (the company behind the Ghost drone), Horizon Hobby, DroneDeploy, YUNEEC, HEXO+, Pixie- Path and RCFlyMaps.” And they won’t be the only ones. As NoFlyZone gains more momentum, others will no doubt sign on. The data needs of the RPA industry are different than full-scale aviation. Once airborne, full-scale aircraft are — typically — far above sensitive airspace. NoFlyZone has built up a “highly accurate database of civil and military airspace, as well as schools, industrial sites, power plants and more,” according to Marcus. Ultimately, he said he would like to see NoFlyZone become the Jeppesen of RPA
data.
A DJI Vision 2 RPA
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