I rather like the FAA’s clever — perhaps unintended — double meaning in the graphic to support its virtual UAS Symposium.
“Drones. Here For Good.” When defined as a noun, good may mean “something useful or beneficial.”
However, when I first saw this graphic, I simply read the words and took it to mean from now on. As in, forever.
Then I looked more closely at the graphic and found the FAA meant “good” as in useful or beneficial. Did you see the ambulance and hospital at first glance?
I’m not cynical by nature, so I believe the person, or team of people, who created this graphic meant useful or beneficial.
But for those who wish drones would just go away, I believe it best to come around to understanding that drones will forever be part of our ecosystem.
And with that mindset, we can more effectively work to mutual benefit.
I think most GA pilots see drones as a threat, not so much from a Safety aspect, but as an infringement, something that will cause their activities to become even more regulated. While so far the burden of new regulation has resided directly on drone operations, while this maybe a realistic concern, it is probably overstated. We tend to react badly to a perceived threat to something we love.
Not just that, us pilots are worried that as drone tech gets better, potential jobs maybe taken away in favor of using drones instead. Just take a look at some of the “Urban Air Taxi” proposals along with current and future military UAVs.
Those who aren’t quite the sharpest tack in the box now feel they see “drones” everywhere there used to be UFOs.