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UAS operation in the homeland

July 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment

“According to a recent national poll conducted by Monmouth University in New Jersey, nearly two-thirds of Americans support the use of unmanned aircraft [systems] (UAS) to protect the U.S. borders and control illegal immigration. Eighty percent of Americans support the use of unmanned aircraft to help in search and rescue missions.”

The above is included in Michael Toscano’s prepared testimony for the House Committee on Homeland Security hearing set for July 19, 2012. Toscano is the president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI).

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Filed Under: Aircraft, Touch & Go Tagged With: , , ,

Code of Conduct for UAS released

July 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) has published the “Unmanned Aircraft System Operations Industry Code of Conduct,” a set of guidelines to provide those who design, test and operate UAS for public and civil use with recommendations for their safe, non-intrusive operation.

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Drones getting easier to fly in U.S.

June 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A May 31 story by Sarah Childress on the Frontline website is titled, “It’s Getting Easier to Fly Drones in the U.S.” The story links to a few videos posted by the Mesa (Arizona) County Sheriff’s Office showing how they use their UAS. Childress also links to the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s “Lists of Drone Certificates” which are both mapped and in list form. While this story and link focuses primarily on privacy implications (and there are many), we must not forget the safety implications of UAS operating in U.S. Airspace.

Filed Under: Aircraft, News, Touch & Go Tagged With: ,

Fat Head enters UAS marketplace

April 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) market is coming. There is a lot of work yet to be done, but it’s coming all the same. Late last month, Wichita-based Fat Head Solutions announced its hung out its shingle in the UAS market and, “will provide low cost, high value, and complete subsystem solutions for small unmanned aerial systems.” Fat Head plans to “capitalize on the emerging $17 billion per year UAS market by focusing on the small end with: camera, landing, video and power systems and sensor solutions.

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FAA seeks public input on UAS test sites

March 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The FAA is asking for public input on the agency’s selection process for six unmanned aircraft system (UAS) test sites.

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UAS – friend or foe?

September 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment

“Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are the future,” according to the September 2011 European Aviation Safety Agency newsletter. Three pages of the eight-page newsletter are dedicated to UAS, which includes some quotable nuggets:

“to fully achieve the UAS industry’s vision, UAS will come in all shapes and sizes and operational constraints will have to be relaxed to allow the same rights to access airspace as manned aircraft.”

“[EASA] is aware that the widespread  introduction of UAS is likely to be met with public anxiety and the manned aviation community and general public may rightly question whether those same fears regarding ‘pilotless aircraft’ are still present today or have they been largely overcome in the evolution to UAS.”

Download a copy of the newsletter to read more.

Filed Under: Aircraft, News Tagged With:

Drone tests… coming to airspace above you?

August 21, 2011 by 4 Comments

AOL Defense is reporting the FAA and Pentagon are “carving out between four to 10 “bubbles” in civilian airspace above the United States to test UAS [unmanned aerial systems]“. These bubbles will be located are the U.S. “to show that UAS can fly in heavily-traveled commercial airspace in all conditions across the United States.”

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