FAA Administrator Michael Huerta unveiled the agency’s new
UAS Pathfinder project, a mission to test various UAS uses, at the Association
for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s (AUVSI) annual trade show in
Atlanta, GA today; as well as the B4UFLY
app, a smartphone app designed for model aircraft and UAS operators.
With the Pathfinder project, the FAA is working with
industry partners on three focus areas, including:
- Visual line-of-sight operations in urban areas -
CNN will look at how UAS might be safely used for newsgathering in populated
areas.
- Extended visual line-of-sight operations in
rural areas - This concept involves UAS flights outside the pilot’s direct
vision. UAS manufacturer PrecisionHawk will explore how this might allow
greater UAS use for crop monitoring in precision agriculture operations.
- Beyond visual line-of-sight in rural/isolated
areas - BNSF Railroad will explore command-and-control challenges of using UAS
to inspect rail system infrastructure.
The three companies reached out to the FAA to work on
research continuing to expand use of UAS in the nation’s airspace. CNN and the
FAA already have been working together through a Cooperative Research and
Development Agreement (CRDA). BNSF has a draft CRDA that is nearly complete and
PrecisionHawk has been working with the FAA on a possible research partnership.
The FAA also unveiled its B4UFLY app at the trade show,
designed to help model aircraft and UAS users know where it is safe and legal
to fly in their current location and other planned locations.
Key features of the B4UFLY app include:
- A clear “status” indicator that immediately
informs operators about their current or planned location.
- Information on the parameters that drive the
status indicator.
- A “Planner Mode” for future flights in different
locations.
- Informative, interactive maps with filtering
options.
- Contact information for nearby airports.
- Links to other FAA UAS resources and regulatory
information.
The app is currently in the beta testing stage, and will
initially be for the iPhone only with Android support to come later. NAAA has
been urging that UAS safety campaigns, such as the Know Before You Fly campaign,
include language to UAS users operating in rural/agricultural areas be aware of
low-flying manned agricultural aircraft and to avoid and ground UAS use when in
the vicinity of such agricultural aircraft.
 annual trade show in Atlanta, GA today; as well as the B4UFLY app, a smartphone app designed for model aircraft and UAS operators.){kind=small}
