"Drone," "Remote-Controlled Aircraft" -- What's the Difference?

Tell me which one's a "drone" and which is a "remote-controlled aircraft."
(I'm doubting you'll be right.)

It is only fitting that a drone-related incident occur less than 24 hours after Scientific American's own (and my former professor) John Horgan spoke with our Science and Technology Studies (STS) class here at Stevens. If drones, the word "incident," or John Horgan isn't enough to excite you, then you should know that this occurred near John F. Kennedy International Airport, right here in New Jersey (if you're not on the East Coast, then I hope one of the other three things excites you to keep reading).

A Boeing 777 pilot spotted what he described as a "drone aircraft" merely 200 feet from his airplane -- 200 feet! While I may have hyped up the word "incident" just a tad, this event is extremely important in regards to drone legislation.  The Federal Aviation Administration hasn't quite officially solidified drones' place in the Federal Aviation Regulations (The "Bible" for the airwaves).  The FAA's current definition of a drone, or UAS (unmanned aircraft system), is an "unmanned aircraft."  This could range from a military-grade flying weapon to an Air Hog toy helicopter.  Thankfully, this vague terminology is demystified by a separate regulation on model aircraft.

In the FAA's guidelines on model aircraft, it states that they must be kept below 400 feet while in flight, out of populated areas, and, most importantly, "not for business purposes."  With this last included phrase in the FAA's guidelines, the division between "drones" and "remote-controlled aircraft" there is clarification.  If law enforcement officers were to uses drones to improve their job performances, which earns those in law enforcement a paycheck, this would be against currently regulation.  Thus, recreation seems to be the only allowance by the FAA's guidelines.

This whole news story is a mess.  Sure, there is some clarity within the guidelines used by the FAA, but all this incident seemed to do was expose the legislative wreck that is eminent when drones are welcomed into our airwaves on September 30th, 2015.  Obviously much work needs to be done to tighten the effectiveness of drone regulations.  Hopefully, all of this will be settled by 2015, because whether we like it or not, drones are coming.

(Original article and photo courtesy of Mashable.com)