The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently issued permits to use drones to monitor crops and photograph properties for sale, marking the first time permission has been granted to companies involved in agriculture and real estate, reports ABC News.
The exemptions to the current ban on commercial drone flights were granted to Advanced Aviation Solutions in Star, Idaho, for crop scouting, and to Douglas Trudeau of Tierra Antigua Realty in Tucson, Arizona.
Advanced Aviation Solutions plans to use its 1.5-pound, fixed-wing eBee drone to make photographic measurements of farm fields, determine the health of crops and look for pests. The aim is to save farmers time walking through fields. The drone also can carry sensors that pick up information invisible to the naked eye, which can help determine which fields need watering.
The permits require drone operations to include both a ground pilot and an observer, that the pilot have at least an FAA private pilot certificate and a current medical certificate, and that the drone remains within line of sight of the operator at all times.