Dear Otus,
Did I read it right that Cammack Village was asking its citizens to approve a $30 a month fee for a drone operator? I know drones are becoming popular, but does Cammack really need a drone operator?
-- Munson Rowlett,
Little Rock
Dear Munson,
It was wholly a pleasure to hear from you and to also have the opportunity to praise the visionaries that serve and protect the fine folks who live in Cammack Village.
Owner, who attended Cammack's Jefferson Elementary, has lived most of his life just south of or west of Cammack Village and has always looked with envy on the secure, fortunate inhabitants of the town that is completely surrounded by Little Rock.
According to Mayor Dave Graf, the added monthly $30 household fee will not only fund recreational and maintenance improvements, but add to public safety by allowing the Village to hire a second police officer with the primary duty of operating Cammack's newly purchased AeroVironment RQ-20 Puma AE.
The battery powered drone is one of two small, hand-launched unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) recently certified by the FAA for nonmilitary use. The other is Insitu's Scan Eagle X200, but that was not deemed cost-effective by the Cammack Village Drone Feasibility Committee.
The CVDFC, headed by Alderman Cody Kees, found the Puma AE to be durable with a reinforced fuselage construction, portable, and quiet enough to avoid detection while patrolling the skies over the Village.
The Puma AE provides persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting data (ISRT) with a three-hour loitering capability that can support the diverse mission requirements demanded by a modern police force.
It carries an electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) camera plus illuminator on a lightweight mechanical gimbaled payload, allowing the drone operator to keep "eyes on target" while in flight.
Graf said any final doubts about the viability of the UAV were erased two weeks ago when former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled the Puma AE that had been bought by the Clinton presidential library to patrol its grounds.
Hillary said that the last time he was in town, former President Bill Clinton took a turn operating the craft from the private rooftop garden atop the library and found it to be "really cool." He had to be admonished for buzzing the nearby Heifer International headquarters, momentarily causing panic among a busload of schoolkids from Carlisle who were taking a tour.
The Clinton library drone is unarmed, but the Cammack Village UAV will have the capacity of an increased payload with the optional under-wing Transit Bay that allows easy integration of third-party payloads such as communications relay, geolocation devices and laser markers.
The precision navigation system with secondary GPS provides reliable positional accuracy for the operator working from a command bunker beneath the Cammack Village Community Hall. The bunker will utilize AeroVironment's proven ground control station (GCS) with a communications range of 9.3 miles -- more than enough for the 193-acre village.
Kees says that one of the UAV's main missions will be to keep Cammack skies free from the intrusive private drones that are now inexpensive enough to encroach on privacy and become a nuisance.
Many Arkansas residents were upset by the bill sponsored by state Rep. Robert Alan, R-Hindsville, that allows deer hunters to use drones during season to scout out the deer woods. The image of thousands of drones buzzing around like flies was enough to cause a backlash.
In a pre-emptive strike against the measure, Cammack Village has already passed an anti-voyeurism city ordinance (No. 10-07) that prohibits personal drones. And if would-be scofflaws doubt the resolve, there was a recent demonstration that showed the Puma AE comes with a sting and can back up the ordinance with force.
The Village's Puma, armed with a Raytheon STM (small tactical munition), easily shot down a DJI Phantom Aerial UAV Drone Quadcopter with GoPro ($449) attempting to invade Cammack skies up the riparian corridor that runs from Murray Park up the ridge parallel with Sunset Drive to near Baker Park.
It was only a training mission, but the deer herd that lives on that hillside can rest easy.
Until next time, Kalaka reminds you that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.
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Fayetteville-born Otus the Head Cat's award-winning column of humorous fabrication appears every Saturday. Email:
HomeStyle on 02/21/2015