A German army UAV over Kabul in 2004 as it almost hits an Afghan jet carrying more than 100 passengers Yamaha’s RMAX does the dirty work aloft while its pilot stays safely on the ground (Image: Yamaha)
The promise is fantastic: new generations of remote-controlled aircraft could soon be flying in civilian airspace, performing all sorts of useful tasks. They could monitor flood defences, keep criminal suspects under surveillance, give firefighters a bird’s-eye view of blazes, search for people lost at sea, or provide wireless networks from on high.
The reality is that a lack of radio frequencies to control…
