Abstract
The events of recent weeks have reminded us how difficult it is to fight the element of fire. Knowing where the fire has started allows emergency services to react faster and more efficiently. That is why unmanned aerial vehicles are being used more and more often. A drone with a thermal imaging camera locates fire outbreaks from the air. The drone will not only reach places that are difficult to reach, but also record an image from a wide area and—importantly—allow you to assess the extent of damage and fire extinguishing activities in real time. The unmanned aerial vehicle with a thermal imaging camera installed, despite the clouds of smoke and poor visibility, registers where the fire is located and in which direction the fire is spreading. The obtained data, along with the exact coordinates of the places that are on fire, are forwarded to the fire brigade. On this basis, firefighters can react quickly and move to a specific area to extinguish a fire. The analysis of the temperature of the indicated area also translated into the safety of the services participating in the fire extinguishing operation. This refers to issues in the area of public safety and privacy. UAV, under the international, regional and national regime of aviation law, are considered as aircraft. Since there is no framework existing in connection with the unauthorized flight in operations area of fire services in the context of the possibility of the U-space using, this paper will focus on this analysis. The paper’s conclusion will address the proposed recommendations for the UAV and aviation industries to consider as potential solution- implementation of the U-space concept. This idea, apart from the regulations of aviation law and other branches of law seems to be relevant for sanctioning the use of the airspace in fire services application.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Małgorzata Sieradzka and Tomasz Balcerzak. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Małgorzata Sieradzka and Tomasz Balcerzak and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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1. Tomasz Balcerzak, Ph.D., is an adjunct in the Institute of Air and Space Law, Faculty of Law and Administration, Lazarski University in Warsaw, Poland (e-mail: tomasz.balcerzak@lazarski.edu.pl).
2. Małgorzata Sieradzka is a Professor in the Institute of Air and Space Law, Faculty of Law and Administration, Lazarski University in Warsaw, Poland (e-mail: malgorzata.sieradzka@lazarski.pl).
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Balcerzak, T., Sieradzka, M. Polish Criminal Liability of the UAV Operator in Connection with the Unauthorized Flight in Operations Area of Fire Services in the Context of the Possibility of the U-Space Using. J Intell Robot Syst 106, 25 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-022-01727-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-022-01727-9