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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2016
Pirates, Fishermen split
twinbill at Aiken Field
The Daily Astorian
Astoria Ford’s summer
baseball team scored 10 runs
on eight hits in the opener,
but their bats fell silent in
Game 2, as Hixson Trucking
of Neah-Kah-Nie managed a
doubleheader split with the
Fishermen Monday at Aiken
Field.
Astoria Ford won Game
1 of the Junior State base-
ball twinbill, 10-3, before the
Pirates bounced back with a
4-0 victory in Game 2 under
the lights.
After giving up a solo home
run in the irst inning of the
irst game, Astoria pitcher Trey
Hageman settled into a groove
and allowed just three hits over
the next ive innings, with 11
strikeouts and two walks to
pick up the win.
Tyler Lyngstad came on in
relief in the sixth and inished
off the Pirates, who had just
four hits.
Meanwhile, the Fishermen
pounded out four extra base
hits, which included a two-run
SCOREBOARD
SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Junior State Baseball — Knappa at Warrenton (2), 4 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Junior State Baseball — Astoria Ford at Neah-Kah-Nie, 6 p.m.
THURSDAY
Junior State Baseball — Seaside at Warrenton (2), 4 p.m.
FRIDAY
Junior State Baseball — Knappa at Clatskanie (2), 3 p.m.
triple by Jared Lucore in the
bottom of the irst.
Mackenzie Pierce’s single
to left scored Lucore for a 3-1
Astoria lead.
The Fishermen were back
at it in the second inning,
as Will Reed had a one-out,
ground-rule double to left, and
scored moments later on a sin-
gle by Calvin Kaul.
A double by Hageman
brought in Kaul, and Astoria
had all the runs it would need.
Hageman and Kaul each
had two hits and drove in a
pair of runs, while the Pirates
committed six errors in the
opener, and three pitchers
combined to walk seven and
hit two batters.
The tables were turned in
Game 2, as Neah-Kah-Nie
starter Bryce Bridge went the
distance on the mound, allow-
ing just four hits with six
strikeouts and four walks over
seven innings.
Playing its young fresh-
men-sophomore lineup, Asto-
ria Ford committed four errors
over the irst three innings, and
trailed 4-0 after three.
Bridge retired nine of the
inal 10 batters he faced.
The same two teams meet
for a single game Wednesday
at Neah-Kah-Nie.
Daily Astorian/File Photo
Jon Gizdavich was a standout baseball player during his years with the Gulls.
Gizdavich Tourney
set for this Sunday
The Daily Astorian
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
A hexacopter drone is flown during a drone demonstration at a farm and winery on
potential use for board members of the National Corn Growers in Cordova, Md. Routine
commercial use of small drones got a green light from the Obama administration Tues-
day, after years of struggling to write regulations that would both protect public safety
and unleash the economic potential and societal benefits of the new technology.
White House clears small,
commercial drones for takeoff
By JOAN LOWY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Rou-
tine commercial use of small
drones was cleared for takeoff
by the Obama administration
Tuesday, after years of strug-
gling to write rules that would
both protect public safety
and free the beneits of a new
technology.
The Federal Aviation
Administration has created
a new category of rules for
drones weighing less than 55
pounds. The long-anticipated
rules would mean drone opera-
tors would be able to ly with-
out special permission.
Currently, commercial oper-
ators have to apply for a waiver
from rules that govern manned
aircraft, a process that can be
time-consuming and expensive.
Since 2014 the FAA has
granted more than 6,100 waiv-
ers and another 7,600 are wait-
ing for approval. Many more
small companies have been
using drones without FAA per-
mission, say industry oficials.
Unless those operators
make a serious mistake that
brings them to the FAA’s atten-
tion, there’s not a lot the agency
can do to track them down. The
new rules would provide an
easier way for those businesses
to operate legally.
The rules also would effec-
tively lift the lid on lights by
other potential operators who
have held off using the technol-
ogy — real estate agents who
want bird’s-eye videos of prop-
erties, ranchers who want to
count cattle and a multitude of
other businesses.
Big change
Under the new rules, oper-
ators must register their drones
online and pass an aviation
knowledge exam for drone
pilots at an FAA-approved test-
ing center. That would give
them a drone pilot certiica-
tion that’s good for 24 months.
That’s a big change, since oper-
ators currently have to have a
manned aircraft pilot’s license.
Operators must also present
identiication for a security vet-
ting similar to that applied to
general aviation pilots.
Operators also have to fol-
low many of the rules that
apply to model aircraft hobby-
ists, including keeping drones
within sight at all times and not
lying over people or higher
than 400 feet. Speed would be
limited to about 100 mph. The
minimum age for commercial
operators would be 16.
Drone lights will be permit-
ted during the day. They will be
permitted at twilight only if the
drone is equipped with anti-col-
lision lights. Operators could
still seek waivers for nighttime
lights. Drone industry ofi-
cials have long complained that
restricting drone lights to day-
time precluded a great many
uses like some search and res-
cue operations, agricultural
operations best done after dark
and roof inspections of com-
mercial building roofs that use
heat sensors.
The rules would still pre-
vent delivery drones from ly-
ing across cities and suburbs
clasping small packages, in part
because that would entail lying
over people. Amazon and Goo-
gle announced two years ago
that they are working on drone
delivery systems for goods pur-
chased online, and Google ofi-
cials have said they expect
deliveries to begin sometime in
2017.
Earlier this year, the Sen-
ate passed an aviation bill that
would require the FAA to issue
regulations within two years to
enable drone deliveries. The
House has been unable to pass
its own version of the bill due to
unrelated controversies.
New rules
Congress has been prod-
ding the FAA for more than a
decade to write rules to enable
broad access to the national
airspace by civilian drones.
Initially, the agency put its
emphasis on inding ways to
enable larger drones like those
used for military missions to
safely ly at the same altitudes
as airliners and other manned
aircraft. After several years,
the agency shifted its focus to
small drones when it became
clear that the market for their
uses was developing much
faster.
But the FAA’s slow pace
led frustrated lawmakers to
include a provision in a major
aviation bill four years ago set-
ting deadlines for the agency
to issue regulations to safely
integrate small drones into the
national airspace by August
2014 and other drones by Sep-
tember 2015.
The rules expected this
week would fulill that irst
deadline. The agency is also
working on an array of other
safety rules and standards to
further broaden the circum-
stances under which drones
can be lown. In April, FAA
oficials said they are work-
ing on regulations that would
permit small, commercial
drones to ly over people
and crowd based on recom-
mendations from an indus-
try advisory committee. The
recommendations called for
allowing drones weighing
about a half-pound or less
to ly over people virtually
without restriction and cre-
ated three other categories
of other drones that could ly
over people if certain require-
ments are met.
Drones larger than a half-
pound in the other three cat-
egories would have to main-
tain a distance from people of
at least 20 feet overhead and
10 feet laterally. Manufactur-
ers would have to crash-test
drones and certify that they
are unlikely to cause serious
injury if the drones struck
someone.
The second annual Jon
Gizdavich Memorial Tour-
nament is set for 1 p.m.
Sunday at Broadway Field,
where former Seaside base-
ball players are welcome to
come and celebrate the life
of a former teammate —
and raise money for a good
cause.
It’s a win-win, said Sea-
side coach Joel Dierickx,
who helped organize last
year’s event.
Nearly 30 former Gulls
showed up and played two
alumni games, and raised
a good deal of scholarship
money.
“We were able to give
away a $2,000 scholarship
this year,” Dierickx said.
“We were pretty excited
about that.”
Gizdavich was a Class
of 2007 graduate of Seaside
High School, and was near-
ing his graduation from Ore-
gon State University when
he lost his life following a
car accident in Corvallis, in
January 2013.
After last year’s event,
Dierickx said, “To me, Jon
was always the epitome of
someone who consistently
cared about other people and
was a pleasure to be around.
He had to overcome some
things, but was about ready
to graduate from college.”
To start a scholarship in
his name, Dierickx said at
the time, “was a no-brainer.
The goal was to bring every-
body together and give a lit-
tle something. I talked to
Bri Hostetler, who was
Jon’s girlfriend, and she and
Terry (Horner), his mother,
jumped on board. It just
steam-rolled from the idea.”
Seaside graduate and for-
mer teammate Ross Knutsen
also helped with some of the
organizing.
“His mother is going to
be here again, and hope-
fully the rest of his family,”
Dierickx said of Gizdavich.
“His father is in town, and
his family and friends are all
looking forward to it.”
For the players, Dierickx
is expecting “everybody
from last year, plus more.
We’re hoping for a great
turnout.
“If it gets to be a lot of
guys, we’ll break them up
into three teams, and each
will play each other twice.”
For more details, see
the tournament’s Face-
book page, “Jon Gizdavich
Alumni Weekend.”