MERRILLVILLE, Ind. — Because it is illegal right now to fly UAVs for commercial use, Beck’s Hybrids farm business advisor Jim Love acknowledges testing them to survey research fields for a crop seed seller is a sticky wicket.

In fact, part of his Friday last week was spent talking with attorneys. “We’re trying to sort out the reality of what’s legal and what’s feasible,” he explained.

A farmer can’t fly a UAV in their own fields right now if they intend to sell the product(s) in them – roadside stand produce growers can’t even use them to check on their melons, Love pointed out. These are Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, and he explained they do not stem from privacy concerns, but are solely to prevent airspace collisions with or distraction of manned aircraft.

Of course, manned craft is not prevented from flying around with cameras. “If you’ve lived on a farm,” Love said with some humor, “you’ve had a guy come by and try to sell you (an aerial) picture of your farm.”

The UAVs Love and other Beck’s employees are experimenting with only go up to about 400 feet (which falls below FAA regulations governing manned flight altitude minimums). But that’s had to be programmed in. He explained once with an earlier model he changed the pixel size of the photos a UAV was supposed to be taking so the photos would only be half as large.

The problem, he said, was the only way that little drone could account for this change was to photograph from twice as high – at about 800 feet. That model’s software has since been reprogrammed, Love said, preventing it from going above 400 feet and allowing it to compensate instead with better camera settings.

Privacy concerns are a different matter of legality and cultural mores. Yes, a drone with a camera can get good photos flying over private property. But, Love insisted, anyone using Facebook or other social media under their real name probably gives away more on their location and activities than a drone could record. And there are always news stories about trusted institutions being hacked – such as the recent problems with Anthem, Inc. health care data.

“The information Anthem let get loose is far more damaging than any picture I could take of you in a swimsuit with my drone,” Love said. “It’s just not quite as high-tech as you may believe.”

Too, he said people have always had to adjust to new potentially invasive technology. Smart phones are everywhere despite their potential for mischief; the reason the vast majority of people don’t take photos in bathrooms, he pointed out, is because it’s culturally frowned upon.

He is confident similar unwritten rules of behavior will prevail to govern drone usage as it becomes more common, as well as more formal measures such as manufacturers programming devices not to enter no-fly and other prohibited areas. Of course, there will also be written laws and policies – including last week’s proposal from the FAA governing operation and certification of small UAS.

Love said its rules would expand opportunities for farmers and others to operate small (under 55 pounds) UAVs legally, and were crafted with input from the AMA, or Academy of Model Aeronautics. The rules – including daylight-only operations, yielding right-of-way to other aircraft and other common-sense guidelines – are numerous, but practical, he explained.

“I could live with these rules as they are today (even without changes),” Love said.

Besides better programming, “good behavior” by users and sound policies, he would like to see more positive media stories on drones. He thinks all of these are necessary to breed acceptance in the public of the little machines.

To learn more about the FAA proposal on small UAS, visit www.faa.gov/ regulations_policies/rulemaking/media/ 021515_sUAS_Summary.pdf or go to www.regulations.gov and search with Docket No. FAA-2015-0150-0001, which also allows you to comment online.

You may also comment using this docket number by mail, to: Docket Operations, M-30, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Room W12-140, West Building Ground Floor, Washington, D.C. 20590-0001; or fax remarks to Docket Operations at 202-493-2251.