Model Airplanes

BOULEVARD, Calif. – The drones are coming.

Not as flying deliverymen that bring diapers, books or soup cans to your home, a vision put forth by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to much fanfare a little more than a year ago.

Instead, drones will help spray crops, inspect high-voltage power lines and hover over movie sets to provide directors with new vantage points. They will also work for insurance companies, real estate agencies, ski resorts and dozens of other businesses.

Eventually.

For now, this all remains theoretical. Except for a few locations, U.S. airspace is closed to commercial drones. Regulators say the danger is too great, and they want to go slow easing unmanned aircraft into the already crowded skies.

Advocates of the young drone industry complain that the long wait is keeping them grounded. Big-money investors are generally staying away, waiting for clear government guidelines. And the blanket flight prohibition has prevented companies from experimenting and advancing the technology. That includes developing sophisticated collision-avoidance systems or finding ways for the aircraft to navigate without human help.

“Most of these drones have very limited safety features,” says Maryanna Saenko, an analyst with science and technology consultancy Lux Research. If one crashes, “it’s a four- or five-pound brick coming out of the sky.”

Most Americans associate drones with the military, which uses unmanned aircraft to survey battlefields and hunt terrorists. In a similar manner, businesses of all kinds envision using

Article source: http://www.hutchnews.com/ap/national/drone-revolution-draws-near-but-big-obstacles-remain/article_34268375-f879-5b73-b0e1-dbc96f4f0564.html

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Rancho San Antonio Park pulls in countless people from all across the South Bay to travel along its network of trails through a slice of pristine open space. While many park visitors are focusing their eyes straight ahead and side to side, many others come to Rancho to gaze skyward.

For years, the county park in the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District has provided space for local radio-controlled airplane hobbyists to earn their wings. The field is made up of pilots young and old, experienced and inexperienced, students and retirees. What ties them all together is a love for a hobby that is sometimes more than getting a plane off the ground.

“I love it. There’s always something going on there,” said Keyon Voussough, 11, from Palo Alto, who shares the hobby with his father.

The little planes can be seen taking off nearly every morning and well into the day. Many pilots armed with transmitters have been flying for close to a decade. Some only recently got their start and have become absorbed in a surprisingly therapeutic hobby.

“It’s kind of a stress relief with school going on,” said Christian Filloux, a high school student from Woodside. “It’s nice to take a few minutes every morning with friends and focus just on flying.”

Planes come in various forms. Some are assembled by way of kits with varying

Article source: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_27238545/radio-controlled-airplane-pilots-take-sky-at-rancho

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