The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a Certificate of Authorization (COA) to Mississippi State University for Stark Aerospace to fly the Heron UAS from Golden Triangle Regional Airport (GTRA) in Columbus, Mississippi .
Category Archives: Regulatory Matters
FAA Reauthorization Bill Passes Through the US House of Representatives
Last Friday, the US House of Representatives passed the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011 by a vote of 223 to 196. The bill includes important passages about integrating unmanned aircraft systems into the National Airspace System (civil airspace).
FAA Reauthorization Bill – Comment
Doug Davis is currently Director, Global UAS Strategic Initiatives at New Mexico State University, after spending almost 25 years with the FAA. He is widely known and respected for his pioneering work in developing the vision for how UAS will operate in the National Airspace System. We asked Doug for his appraisal of the current legislative and budgetary situations facing the FAA and the progress that it is being made. Doug told us:
ICAO Invites UVS International to Help Plan Regional Campaigns
ICAO has notified UVS International that it would like to continue the partnership established for the organisation of the Global Air Traffic Management Forum, which included ATCA, CANSO, EUROCONTROL, IATA, FAA, Department of Defense (USA), Ministry of Transport (Germany), NATO, and UVS International, for the organisation/conduct of a regional campaign of five seminars/workshops on civil/military cooperation in all ICAO regions from 2011 to 2013.
Oz Team 5 Year Project to Develop UAS Safety Evaluation Tool
The University of Newcastle, Australia and Boeing Research and Technology Australia have launched a five-year project to develop a tool to evaluate whether unmanned aircraft meet the same levels of safety as piloted aircraft for particular operations.
FAA Reform Worries Model Aircraft Enthusiasts in USA
Model Aircraft with Enthusiast Photo: Rich Beauchesne
As the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act, HR 658, makes its way through the US House of Representatives, it is provoking concern amongst model aircraft enthusiasts who fear that government regulators can’t make the difference between model aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems.
FAA Consolidates Guidelines on Unmanned Aircraft Operations in the National Airspace System
In anticipation of a complete review of the conditions of integrating non-military UAS into the US civilian airspace (known as the National Airspace System in the US) the FAA has issued new interim guidelines for the operation of unmanned aircraft systems.
ICAO Circular 328 UAS Now Published
ICAO Circular 328, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) – ISBN 978-92-9231-751-5 – has now been published by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The purpose of this circular is to:
- Apprise States of the emerging ICAO perspective on the integration of UAS into non-segregated airspace and at aerodromes
- Consider the fundamental differences from manned aviation that such integration will involve
- encourage States to help with the development of ICAO policy on UAS by providing information on their own experiences associated with these aircraft.