Helicopter Association International (HAI) is forming a committee on unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and President Matt Zuccaro is urging members to get involved in both the committee and the industry itself. At a session on UAS at HAI’s recent Heli-Expo in Orlando, Zuccaro said there is no question that unmanned systems will cut into operations now handled almost exclusively by helicopters. “There are going to be a number of missions that are currently done by helicopters that will be done by UAVs,” he told about 200 operators at the session. “We need to really get to know this industry.”
Zuccaro said some operators have already set up UAS divisions in their company to ensure that when existing customers start exploring unmanned systems as an alternative to helicopters they don’t have to look elsewhere. UASs are already being used in film production, law enforcement and plant inspection work and the scope of their use is going to expand dramatically. He urged members to “get ahead of the curve” by getting involved in the industry.
