Aerial drones could become part of daily lives

Aerial drones may well become part of Americans' everyday lives, performing countless useful functions in the not too distant future say experts.

But these would be quite different from the missile carrying terror busting machines that they are known as today.

These generally small, unmanned aircraft would help farmers more precisely apply water and pesticides to crops, saving money and reducing environmental impacts, help police departments find missing people,  and reconstruct traffic accidents.

Real estate agents would be able to use them to film videos of properties and surrounding neighborhoods, while government authorities would put them to good use in inspecting bridges, roads and dams. They would be used by oil companies to monitor pipelines, while they would help power companies monitor transmission lines.

With severe cuts in military budgets, drone makers have been looking to the civilian market to spur the industry's growth, however there was an ironic threat to that hope: success on the battlefield might  work against the benign uses of drones at home.

The civilian unmanned aircraft industry is concerned, the technology would be grounded before it could really take off because of fear of misuse of technology among the public. Further the delay in the issuance of government safety regulations was problematic, as in the absence of these, broad access to US skies would be out of the question.

Meanwhile,  the Jefferson County Board tabled action on Monday, that it was considering an ordinance to ban drones in the county's airspace.

"Drones present an unreasonable and unacceptable threat to public safety in the air and to persons and property on the ground in the County of Jefferson due to limitations in drone 'vision,' capability to avoid other aircraft and adequate control and armed drones and surveillance drones present an unreasonable and unacceptable threat to the rights of individual privacy, freedom of association and assembly, equal protection and judicial due process in the County of Jefferson," the ordinance reads.

"Therefore, drones are hereby banned from airspace over the County of Jefferson, including drones in transit. Flying of a drone within the airspace of the County of Jefferson shall be considered a gross misdemeanor carrying a penalty of up to one year in jail and a fine not to exceed $5,000. More than one offense of flying a drone within the airspace will be considered felonies, with jail time and fines based on the number of violations. Drones will not be purchased, leased, borrowed, tested or otherwise used by any agency of the County of Jefferson.

Unmanned aerial vehicles are not allowed in US general airspace due to the threat they pose to other aircraft.