According to a new report from Tractica, a growing interest in using remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), also known as unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, will drive commercial RPA shipments from 80,000 in 2015 to more than 2.6 million annually by 2025. The market intelligence firm forecasts that annual revenue from commercial drone hardware sales will reach nearly […]
Drone
Educating the public — and pilots — about RPAs
Can you imagine ordering an aircraft off the Internet, then learning to fly it by trial and error without knowledge of physics, weather or airspace? That’s what’s happening when people buy Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), also referred to as drones or unmanned aerial systems (UAS). These non-commercial RPAs can range in size from under five […]
University plans RPA flight tests the first week of June
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi has scheduled test flights for the week of June 1 from the Port Mansfield airport through the university’s Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center. A launch in the dark and shoreline flights that match on-the-ground surveying are planned for this round of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), or drone, […]
Why are RPA regulations taking forever?
Why are regulations for remotely piloted aircraft — known commonly as drones — taking so long? The FAA tries to answer that question in a recent blog post at ReadWrite.com
Video: Texas university conducts test flights for RPA sense-and-avoid system
PORT MANSFIELD, Texas – Texas A&M University Corpus Christi’s Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft Systems research center (LSUASC) conducted flight operations in early March to test a ground-based sense-and-avoid radar system designed to identify small remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) in a specific airspace. Bob Alger, Director of Business Development for SRC, Inc., said the equipment could be used, […]
Sharing the skies with RPAs
They fly, so pilots could love Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) [with other terms also used, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), unmanned aerial systems (UAS), and drones.] Some pilots are already involved with RPAs. However, RPA pilots remain on the ground. Is that the same? Differences have a way of dividing people, even when they may […]
Kansas university gets statewide access for RPAs
Kansas State University Salina has reached a milestone in the unmanned aircraft industry, becoming the first in the country to receive approval from the FAA for statewide access during flight operations. The university has received three Certificates of Authorization that will allow its remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) program to conduct research anywhere in the state […]
Droneport: FAA Approves Test of Drone Power Line Exams
Droneport is reporting the “FAA has approved San Diego Gas & Electric’s test program for the examination of rural power transmission lines with drone-mounted HD cameras.” SDGE will fly sub-one-pound quadcotpers in “four rural test sites 70 miles east of San Diego in the McCain, Valley. The drones replace manned helicopter inspections that cost nearly as much per flight hour as the drone system’s total cost.”
Touch & Go: Perspective matters
I’m excited to see what comes of the future of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones. There is a great deal yet to learn, and ways UAV technology will scale up to the benefit of all aerospace. Of that, I have no doubt.
However, there is also much to figure out and, frankly, worry about.