FAA Selects 6 States To Test Drones

100,000 new jobs? That's what I love about press releases, they can say anything and no one challenges them! :mad2:
 
develop and test drones to fly safely in the same skies as commercial airliners.
And if those little airplanes get inthe way we'll ban them. When they say compatibility with passenger planes I somehow doubt they are also including me and my friends on paragliders. Or nonelectric bugsmashers or balloons or well they have a lot of things to outlaw to keep their RC models safe.
 
N747JB said:
...they can say anything and no one challenges them! :mad2:
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Speaking of which, with the possible exception of Griffiss they list sites where the research will be conducted, not flights. In the case with which I'm most familiar, flights will be conducted at sites far removed from the research location in the article.

Nauga,
who is more concerned about meat servos than electronic ones
 
ClimbnSink said:
When they say compatibility with passenger planes I somehow doubt they are also including me and my friends on paragliders.
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What are you doing to change that?

Nauga,
in the mix
 
They will probably be assigned to the NSA.
 
nauga said:
What are you doing to change that?

Nauga,
in the mix
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Nothing. I don't follow rules I don't agree with. When flying is outlawed only outlaws will fly. No problems here.
 
I notice Deer Trail, Colorado is not on the list.

Coincedence? I think not! :ihih: :stirpot:
 
Does anyone know what deconfliction procedures will be in place? Curious to see how these will integrate with VFR traffic. I'm wondering whether there will be whole areas that are slotted for drones in which we will not be allowed to fly, or will it be posted like an MOA?
 
There are lots of methods UAS will be able to integrate with VFR traffic...many methods (distributed aperture radar with moving target track capability for example) are MORE capable/reliable/consistent than the human eye you rely on in a manned aircraft. Some of the issues with this approach however is cost and payload size/weight....assuming the AV will be fitted with a camera (or similar sensor). My biggest concern is the complexity of the UAS and manufacturing tolerances. To my knowledge, most (if not all) of these systems currently aren't required to adhere to the traditional airworthiness standards, manufacturing tolerances, and maintenance requirements as manned aircraft. So, the issue is reliability. These tests will flush those concerns out though.
 
Hank, I can't speak for these future tests, but I know here in NC, we takeoff/land within the Class D airspace, hold at the edge closest to the Restricted Area we intend to operate in, and have a special ATC controller tied into the local ASR (radar) that monitors ALL aircraft in the local area. He manages a "predictive" system that determines if an aircraft will conflict with our AV in the transit, if not then we cross the Class G airspace to the Restricted Area (or back to the Delta). Our operations are NOTAMed locally too.
 
A lot of people have been waiting for this list. What's not shown by the Press is the list of chosen losers, picked by government.

You either won the government lottery today or lost.
 
nauga said:
Government contracts are won and lost every day.



Nauga,

who has been on both sides.
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This wasn't "just" a contract. This was changing the law to allow specific types of flight that were already occurring under the radar so to speak, and also overtly by DoD.

DoD and DHS have been doing cross-country flights with "drones" bigger than my 182 for a very long time. A friend flies them for the Border Patrol. And they're not always near a border, I guarantee it.

Civilians were locked out and then the lottery was started to see where the six test sites were going to be.
 
Banjo33 said:
Hank, I can't speak for these future tests, but I know here in NC, we takeoff/land within the Class D airspace, hold at the edge closest to the Restricted Area we intend to operate in, and have a special ATC controller tied into the local ASR (radar) that monitors ALL aircraft in the local area. He manages a "predictive" system that determines if an aircraft will conflict with our AV in the transit, if not then we cross the Class G airspace to the Restricted Area (or back to the Delta). Our operations are NOTAMed locally too.
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Thanks for the info! I guess the upshot is airspace will get a bit more crowded but there will be ways to deal with it. I just fear that us VFR pilots will be locked out of airspace in which we can fly today!
 
hankrausch said:
Thanks for the info! I guess the upshot is airspace will get a bit more crowded but there will be ways to deal with it. I just fear that us VFR pilots will be locked out of airspace in which we can fly today!
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Isn't that the fear with ADS-B anyway? UAS or not, I think the freedoms we enjoy today will look a lot different when/if NextGen comes on line.

For your SA, one of the things being discussed is the use of military training routes (IR, VR, and SRs) for enroute transit of UAS. However, most current systems require direct line-of-site between the ground control station and the AV, which severely restricts their range (terrain, man-made obstacles, trees, airborne obscurants, etc). I don't know how available satellite up/down link is to the civilian sector (for enroute control), but it's difficult to even get a DoD system in that network.
 
You know I have already decided to retire from flying before ADS-B comes on line, that plus the new 100 no-lead which I understand will be 15-30% more expensive than 100LL will finally put paid to my flying I am afraid--I just want to get plenty of flying in before 2020.
 
ClimbnSink said:
Nothing. I don't follow rules I don't agree with. When flying is outlawed only outlaws will fly. No problems here.
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I hate validating your otherwise flippant remarks on here. But on this particular account, I agree with ya.
 
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