42 unmanned systems
inside
January/February 2016
"It is for this reason," Kara told Inside Unmanned
Systems, "that many companies are eschewing the
consumer market, and largely focusing their en-
ergies and investment dollars on the commercial
drone marketplace, particularly software and data
services."
European hardware companies, like firms
elsewhere in the world, are pursuing custom-
ers in a handful of large industries—agricul-
ture, mining, construction and energy—with
money to spend and problems that can be ad-
dressed with unmanned aerial system tech-
nologies and services.
Not Like the Rest of the World
For organizations looking to invest in the UAS
industry, Kara said Europe offers particular
advantages including the old continent's empha-
sis on long term planning and good, although not
perfect, commercial/academic partnerships.
The industry does face some unique challeng-
es, however. Mark McKinnon, a lawyer with 25
years experience in aviation and transportation
law, pointed out that Europe has "lots of different
regulatory bodies in the different countries, each
with its own set of rules, or sometimes no rules."
That's not especially good, said McKinnon,
who works for multinational law giant Den-
tons, but it isn't all bad either. In the absence of
specific EU guidance, he said, some European
countries, such as the UK and Germany, have
had regulations in place for some years allowing
commercial drone operations. In contrast, the
Federal Aviation Administration in the United
Ao Chen of Pix4D
uses the mobile
fl ight planning app
Pix4Dcapture to
create an image-
mapping fl ight with
the DJI Phantom 3.
Photo courtesy of Pix4D/Kike Calvo
AIR MARKET WATCH