Woolpert, a national geospatial, architecture and infrastructure firm, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have tested a commercial unmanned aircraft system built for mapping applications during a joint test flight over the Wilmington Air Park in Ohio.
The Woolpert-made Altavian Nova Block III UAS is equipped with a metric camera system and designed to support the upcoming data collection projects of USACE’s Mobile District.
“Using an accurate, high-resolution metric camera system with a UAS, we can continue to explore the many applications and benefits of unmanned aerial technology,” said Clint Padgett, USACE Mobile District chief for the spatial data branch.
The unmanned aerial system was flown by Sinclair Community College’s pilot-in-command (PIC). While Woolpert provided the data collection requirements to test its UAS sensor for possible use by USACE, Sinclair’s PIC was in charge of the flight mission and flight operations as required by the FAA-issued Certificate of Authorization (COA).
Through its partnership with Sinclair Community College, Woolpert is able to obtain test flight data by leveraging Sinclair’s COA and flight crew until which point the national air space is opened to commercial operations. The test flight occurred at Wilmington Air Park under a COA issued to Sinclair Community College, with Sinclair’s pilot flying the unmanned aerial system.
Woolpert, a national geospatial, architecture and infrastructure firm headquartered in Dayton, and Sinclair Community College are strong partners in the UAS industry and have worked closely together on this and many other projects.