Tag Archives: Nevada

272 FAA Draft NPRM for Night Flying and Flights over People

The FAA has released a draft of the NPRM that proposes rules for night flying and flights over people. Also, three UAS UTM Pilot Program projects awarded, drones survey Africa and identify illegal activity in India, Japan will issue underwater drone guidelines, and NASA contemplates a quadcopter for Titan.

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New FAA proposal would let drones fly over people and at night without a waiver

Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao released a draft NPRM [PDF] that removes waiver requirements for flying after dark and flying over people. It expands the activities permitted under Part 107.

Night flying for small UAS would be allowed without a waiver or exemption. Drone operators would be required to “complete knowledge testing or training, including new subject matter areas related to operating at night.” The sUAS would have “an anti-collision light illuminated and visible for at least 3 statute miles.”

Flights over people would be allowed without a waiver or exemption under certain conditions. The FAA proposes three categories of permissible operations over people based on the risk of injury they present.

The NPRM is to be published in the federal register soon, followed by a 60-day open comment period.

State of Nevada Unmanned Aircraft System Test Site Selected for Milestone DOT / FAA UAS Traffic Management Pilot Program

The FAA-designated State of Nevada UAS Test Site was awarded a project under the UAS UTM Pilot Program. The Smart Silver State project will focus on urban drone operations using advanced airspace, drone, and sensor technology. The Nevada UAS Test Site proposal included over 20 partners and the project will be demonstrated in the City of Reno with additional testing in other areas.

Drones for good: UAVs help survey poorly mapped areas of Africa

Many areas in rural Africa are poorly mapped and having GPS doesn’t help disaster relief agencies and local authorities. Now people in Tanzania are volunteering to survey unmapped areas with drones. In Zanzibar, a mapping initiative was started in 2016 to survey about 900 square miles with senseFly eBee drones taking high-resolution images.

Government keen on drones with night-vision to track illegal sand mining

Eight months ago the Indian government started a UAV surveillance project targeting illegal riverbed sand mining. Forty-six UAV missions were flown with a 48 percent success rate. Now the Geology & Mining Department is looking at fixed-wing drones with infrared for night surveillance.

Japan to set rules for drones

The Japanese government plans to issue guidelines for underwater drones by fiscal 2020. This is a response to increased private sector use for missions such as inspecting offshore wind power plants and underwater pipelines. Expected guidelines include collision avoidance mechanisms and collection of drones after their batteries are depleted.

NASA May Decide This Year to Land a Drone on Saturn’s Moon Titan

The proposed Dragonfly mission to explore Saturn’s moon Titan is one of the options NASA is considering. Titan has a thick atmosphere (four times as dense as Earth) which allows for a flying vehicle instead of a rover. The quadcopter would fly to multiple sites to conduct experiments, recharging its flight batteries via nuclear power. The project is led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.

Artist's impression of Dragonfly at work on Titan's surface.
Artist’s impression of Dragonfly at work on Titan’s surface. Dragonfly’s focused instrument payload would help scientists answer key questions about prebiotic chemistry and astrobiology, meteorology, geophysics and geomorphology. Image credit: Johns Hopkins APL.

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UAV184 AOPA Welcomes Drone Pilots

Drone pilots are welcome to join AOPA, drone sightings increase again, a large autonomous freight drone prototype, a beyond visual line of sight record, and autonomous package delivery by UPS.

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AOPA Welcomes Drone PilotsAOPA believes manned and unmanned pilots are more alike than different: “…both groups are part of general aviation, and share a fascination for flight and a craving for new perspectives.” To bring drone pilots into the organization, AOPA created a senior director of UAS programs and selected Kathleen “Kat” Swain to fill the position in April 2016. More recently, AOPA entered into a formal agreement with DARTdrones to offer their online training course free to AOPA members. Also, AOPA members will be eligible for a discount on an online Part 107 test preparation course, and members can experience drone demonstrations and live seminars at major airshows and at AOPA’s Regional Fly-Ins.

FAA Releases Updated Drone Sighting Reports

The reports of potential encounters with UAS come from pilots, air traffic controllers, law enforcement, and citizens. The latest data cover February through September 2016 and show reports increasing to 1,274 during that period compared to 874 reports for the same period in 2015. The FAA makes the data available through their UAS Sightings Report page.

Exclusive: Natilus Offers First Look at Freight Drone Prototype

Natilus wants to build a large autonomous freight drone and reduce global air freight costs by 50% over that of a 747 freighter. The San Jose, California-based company received $750,000 in seed funding in June 2016 from Draper Associates. Their Nemo prototype “is about the size of a small predator military drone.”

Nevada-based Consortium using Drone America UAV Completes First Long-Distance Beyond Line of Sight Urban Package Delivery

The 39-mile beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight was flown under the Nevada UAS Test Site’s FAA Certificate of Authorization (COA) on February 15, 2017. Led by the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems, which manages the UAS Test Site, the fixed-wing Drone America Savant™ UAV flew at up to 1,500 feet AGL.

UPS tests residential delivery via drone launched from atop package car

UPS announced that they successfully tested the autonomous delivery of a package by a drone launched from the top of a UPS truck. Under the UPS concept, while the drone is making its delivery, the driver continues on to make a separate delivery. Tests were conducted in Tampa, Florida with a Workhorse Group HorseFly™ octocopter.

UAV Video of the Week

UPS Tests Residential Delivery via Drone