Pit & Quarry, August 2017

OTheR cOnsIdeRATIOns There are quite a few restrictions associated with f lying under the Part 107 rules but none of these pose a serious impediment to small area mapping The ones most relevant to mine site mapping include The flying height must be 400 ft or lower relative to ground height Take this to mean the top of a pit not the bottom Flying is permitted in a ll Class G airspace with no air traffic control permission required This is quite a relaxation compared to the older Section 333 rules that forbid flying within three to five miles of any airport For example GeoCue f lew a mine site right after the Part 107 rules took effect see photo This site surrounds a fairly active airport on three sides However the airspace is Class G and thus the company was able to fly with no additional permissions or waivers The pilot in command the FAA remote pilot certified person responsible for the flight must have the drone in sight at all times The reverse of this is that no flying beyond visual line of sight BVLOS is permitted The FAA does state that brief moments of non visual contact due to obstructions are OK We take this to mean that the occasional occlusion due to a stockpile between the pilot and the drone is acceptable No operations over unprotected uninvolved persons This one is easy for a mine site just ensure that your staff is briefed on the time of each flight No operations over persons in moving vehicles GeoCue has always taken this to mean uninvolved persons in privately owned vehicles not mine site equipment Since mine site personnel are involved in the flight project there shouldnt be a problem with this especially because they are generally in protective cabs There are a number of other regulations but none that would impact mine site flights TAkeAwAYs When you have a number of sites that need to be periodically flown it makes the most sense from an operational and cost perspective for you to do the flying yourself even if you opt to outsource the data processing The first step you should take is to select a few staff members to qualify as remote pilots With perhaps 20 hours of self study they should be able to A mine site in Class G airspace successfully pass the FAA examination If you acquire your own drone you will need to register it with the FAA This is a very simple online process you can complete through a self service portal at https registermyuas faa gov Also it would be wise to put in place a drone safety program While most commercial systems tend to be fairly reliable failures do happen You want to ensure that if one of these falls from the sky it is not going to damage property or injure personnel One of your best practices would be an alerting system so all staff members are aware that a flight is in progress and they can remain within vehicles or buildings if they are under the flight pattern Drone mapping has become fairly easy to legally implement for mine site mapping volumetrics and offers quite a few advantages over ground based survey methods With a proper plan you should be able to implement a fully functional mapping system within three months P Q Lewis Graham is the president and chief technical officer of GeoCue Group Inc www geocue com pitandquarry com August 2017 PIT QUARRY S9