MAPPS 2016 Summer Conference (Traverse City, MI)
Aerial Acquisition Forum Meeting Report
Facilitators: Richard Crouse, RC&A / George Southard, Trimble / Greg Winton, MAPPS Aviation Legal Counsel
National Conference of State Legislatures
John Byrd shared a policy report, “Taking Off, State Unmanned Aircraft Systems Policies,” that was produced by the National Conference of State Legislatures with MAPPS support. The report may be accessed on the web: NCSL Guidance on UAS, or http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.mapps.org/resource/resmgr/Federal_Issues_Aviation/TAKING_OFF-STATE_UNMANNED_AI.pdf.
FAA / Lidar Installation Issue:
At the Winter Meeting in Las Vegas, Richard Crouse (RC&A) and Optech agreed to attempt a Lidar system installation as a test, under the new FAA guidelines in Advisory Circular AC20-183. To this end, a kick-off meeting was held last March between the two companies and the local Fight Standards District Offices in Baltimore where the installation would be done. The Baltimore FSDO requested that the team submit a Form 337 (Major Repair or Alteration) and they would then seek guidance from the New York ACO (Aircraft Certification Office) on how to proceed.
The Form 337 has not yet been submitted, as the manufacturers have been working on completing the testing required by the Advisory Circular.
The goal of this test is to determine if the process of using Advisory Circular AC20-183 to accomplish a Lidar system installation is workable for MAPPS member firms.
UAS / FAA Part 107
George briefly discussed on-going efforts to work with the FAA on the next round of regulations regarding the use of UAS in BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) operations. A new topic was raised by member John Perry about the intrusion into the surveying and mapping profession by non-professionals using UAS for mapping applications. This could have a negative impact on our profession in a number of ways. John asked that we consider ways to minimize these activities in the future. It was proposed that an effort be made to strengthen state regulations requiring commercial users of UAS to have proper insurance coverage. Also, it was noted that the new Part 107 rule requiring commercial UAS operators to be properly licensed by the FAA will help reduce the number of commercial operators. This is a topic our forum will continue to monitor.
New Business:
NAFTA / Specialty Air Services
The Forum is seeking information from members on their experiences with cross border operations under the NAFTA agreement. Do you feel the agreement is applied equally by the various governments involved? Do you find the NAFTA agreement is or is not beneficial for your business?
Government Billing Rates
MAPPS has always promoted Qualifications-Based Selection (Brooks Act) for government procurement. This should mean that rates are negotiated based on costs. For those firms that have negotiated contracts with the government, were the rates agreed on reflective of cost? And when task orders were issued, were enough hours allowed to cover the tasks required? Please share your experience with this process.
Attendees:
Dean Toth AxisGeospatial
Thomas Schweitzer Atkins North America
Brenda Burroughs Teledyne Optech
James Hume Eagle Mapping
George Southard Trimble
Kevin Perkins Applanix
John Antalovich Kucera
Thomas Loecherbach Tetra Tech
Greg Lemke Air-Land Surveys
Kelly Francis Aero-Graphics
Jim Van Rens Riegl
Bobby Tuck Tuck Mapping
Michael Sitar Teledyne Optech
Scott Bennett Harris Corporation
Tim Leary Woolpert
Jerry Skaw Vexcel Imaging
Bret Hazell GeoTerra
Jane Smith MRG GEO
Greg Winton Aviation Law Firm
Ron Hoffman Surdex
Alistair Stuart Leica
Jim Green Teledyne Optech
Aaron Sale Ayres Associates
Jeff Wood Spicer Group
John Perry Altavian
Richard Crouse RC&A