On April 21, 2014, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that one of the six test sites chosen for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) research has been deemed operational. The six test sites were selected on December 30, 2013 by congressional mandate. This announcement comes more than two-and-a-half months before the deadline specified by the program.
The FAA granted a Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA) to the North Dakota Department of Commerce to use the Draganflyer X4ES small UAS at the Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft System Test Site. The test site’s main goal is to show that UAS can be used for precision agricultural studies. In addition, the Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft System Test Site will collect safety-related operational data that is necessary for studying UAS airworthiness and system development. The test site will also collect maintenance data to create a model database for maintenance and repair.
Flight operations at the Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft System Test Site are to begin during the week of May 5. Initial flight operations will be held at the North Dakota State University’s Carrington Research Extension Center in Carrington, ND. The second set of operations is scheduled to begin summer 2014 and will fly over Sullys Hill National Game Preserve near Devils Lake, ND.
The FAA announcement can be found here.
For more information, please contact Ronce Almond at (202) 457-7790.