Oneida County’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) test site at Griffiss International Airport in Rome recently received a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight authority.
The new authority, announced by Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr., will allow drones up to 300 pounds to fly in the 50-mile flight corridor between Rome and Syracuse.
“This new FAA designation removes some previous restrictions making it easier to test larger drones,” Picente said in a statement. “Our test site is already the global leader for UAS research and development, and now, we will be able to test more advanced operations and be financially compensated for it. This is great news for Oneida County, our partners at the Test Site and for the businesses and agencies who use our facility to advance the industry.”
Civilian drones flown without visual observers in 2022
The FAA granted the test site approval to fly drones beyond visual line of sight across the entire corridor in October 2022.
The approval gave Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR) the ability to fly civilian drones from Syracuse International Airport to Griffiss International Airport in Rome without the need of visual observers.
Officials said this will help unlock the full potential and economic advantage of commercial drone and advanced air mobility operations, including cargo and passenger transport via uncrewed aircraft.
What is the Charlie Waiver
The new authority — known as the “Charlie Waiver” — allows the county’s test site to support its customers in conducting flight test of platforms, systems, concepts of operation and other capabilities on drones up to 300 pounds including:
- Research, development testing and evaluation
- Operational suitability demonstrations
- Familiarization flights
- Crew training flights
- Likely failure & specific demonstration testing
- Noise testing
- Flights to substantiate major design changes
- Flights to show compliance with the function & reliability requirements of the regulations
- Flights that are part of the durability and reliability-based means of compliance type certificate
- Market survey
“The significance of the Charlie waiver is that it will enable the FAA-designated UAS test sites’ qualified customers to conduct flight-testing with drones weighing under 300 pounds in an accelerated manner,” an FAA spokesperson said in a statement. “The Charlie Waiver will transform the field of drone research and development by making it easier and more efficient to conduct these operations.”
The Oneida County-owned UAS Test Site is one of just seven in the country.
Its operation is a partnership between the county, AX Enterprize and NUAIR. The site has conducted more than 5,000 test flights over the past decade and has completed multiple projects with the FAA and NASA to advance the UAS industry.
Photo: On Oct. 19, 2022 a drone was flown beyond visual line of sight across 50 miles of airspace within New York’s Drone Corridor from Syracuse to Rome – EDWARD HARRIS / UTICA OBSERVER-DISPATCH
Source: Observer Dispatch