Is Big Brother Coming To Gaston County, NC?

With all the furor surrounding the government's recent deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles along the US-Mexico border (and the resulting TFRs intended to ensure the UAVS don't accidentally slam into a wayward Cessna) it's no surprise one local constabulary's plan to deploy a UAV over its town has given a few people some pause.

The Gaston County Police Department will probably be getting some phone calls soon regarding its purchase of a CyberBug, a small, hand-launched, hang-glider-like UAV (right) the department intends to deploy soon on a variety of missions.

From a cost/benefit perspective, it makes sense for Gaston County to employ the UAV. At $30,000 a pop -- including support equipment -- a new CyberBug is far less expensive than a used helicopter or fixed-wing manned aircraft. It also only takes a single "pilot" to fly a CyberBug, and the craft runs on electricity, not avgas.

At issue is where the UAV will be operating -- in airspace regulated by the FAA, and used by pilots who are used to sharing the skies with other pilots... and their eyes.

"The main issue with UAVs whether they're military or civilian is they must operate in a way that is safe for pilots operating in the area," said the AOPA's Chris Dancy. "The UAVs must be able to sense and avoid. Until they can, we don't believe they can be safely integrated into the overall airspace system."

The move by a civilian entity to employ UAVs has also caught the wary eye of groups focused on privacy issues.

The idea of UAVs "makes me a little bit edgy," said Dr. Susan Roberts, professor of political science at Davidson University. "We want our freedom of privacy, and of person. It's getting of more and more concern that we need to give up things for some kind of security issue, and we're not sure what that is."

For its part, Gaston County says isn't planning on using its UAV for anything but roles carried out by helicopters in larger communities.

"The applications we have in mind for the CyberBug include a long list of missions," said Assistant Chief Jeff Isenhour in a Cyber Defense -- makers of the CyberBug -- press release. "Just to name a few, we would use the CyberBug for routine surveillance, lost persons, tactical operations, open area drug eradication, and overhead crime scene photography."

Representatives with Cyber Defense maintain the ability to give real-time information and provide video and patrol coverage over a much wider area than previously available (before the CyberBug, Gaston County had no aerial capabilities) will provide much more comprehensive levels of protection to both the citizens and law enforcement of Gaston County.

For pilots, however, the greatest issue is one of safety: how well will their aircraft share the skies with an object roughly the size of a large bird, but with no "eyes" of its own?

"As a pilot, I have concerns," said one pilot. "What kind of notification are pilots going to have when this vehicle is going to be flying, and at what altitude?"

"It's hard enough to see a full-size aircraft," he added.

FMI: www.cduav.com