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Observations from the FAA’s 3rd annual UAS Symposium.
2018 FAA UAS Symposium
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) co-sponsored the FAA’s 3rd annual Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Symposium on March 6-8, 2018, at the Baltimore Convention Center. David attended the event and he gives us his observations.
Remote identification of unmanned aircraft was viewed as a key enabler to the goal of BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) flight. A consensus is building that remote identification is necessary for drones flying below 400 feet, as well as for those flying above.
FAA Symposium: Drones Seeing “Massive Adoption,” Safety Concerns are a Primary Issue
FAA Acting Administrator Dan Elwell said, “If you want to fly in the system, you have to be identifiable, and you have to follow the rules.” The rules would need to apply to hobbyist aircraft as well, because “one malicious act could put a hard stop on all the hard work we’ve done on drone integration.”
U.S. officials pushing for drone identification requirement, new powers for Homeland Security and Justice
What’s Next: Whose Drone Is That?
Angela Stubblefield, the FAA’s deputy associate administrator for security and hazardous materials safety said: “Anonymous operations in the system aren’t consistent with moving forward with integration and expansion of operations.”
Brendan Schulman, vice president of policy and legal affairs at DJI noted, “The FAA is not going to create future rules for expanded operation of drones until the remote identification framework is in place.”
FAA Announces Real-Time Airspace Authorizations at 500 Airports, Starting April 30
FAA Acting Administrator Dan Elwell announced that Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) will be expanded to 500 airports beginning April 30, 2018. LAANC provides real-time airspace authorizations through an FAA UAS Data Exchange.
When Is LAANC Going Live in My Area?
The airports will be added in six waves across U.S. regions. Skyward provides a list of the impacted facilities. Currently, there are four LAANC providers: AirMap, Project Wing, Rockwell Collins, and Skyward. Beginning April 16, 2018, the FAA will also consider LAANC service agreements with others.