FAA Releases Specifications for Unmanned Test Sites
Posted for Del. John Bohanan and The Patuxent Partnership
Pax Leader
By Jay Friess
The Federal Aviation Administration this month restarted its process to select six sites across the United States for testing the integration of unmanned aircraft into domestic airspace.
Local officials have been working to get one of those designations for Southern Maryland as well as the research dollars, jobs and facilities that are likely to come with them.
On Feb. 14, the FAA released a 68-page Screening Information Request (SIR) that lays out the parameters for the test sites. From now until May 6, the FAA will be accepting applications in sections from various locations vying for one of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Sites. The sections must address compliance criteria; ground infrastructure, research objectives and airspace use; safety; experience; planned team composition and capability; and economic impact.
Matt Scassero, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Unmanned Aerial Systems Coalition, confirmed that he has obtained the SIR and is currently reviewing it. Scassero will lead the composition of Southern Maryland’s application for a UAS Test Site.
The FAA is scheduled to make a selection decision and issue an Other Transaction Authority, an agreement between the agency and the groups responsible for heading the Test Sites, on Sept. 27.
The establishment of the UAS Test Sites is aimed at testing technologies for air traffic control and sense-and-avoid, allowing unmanned aircraft to operate in domestic airspace near manned traffic. Southern Maryland is uniquely positioned to become a Test Site, given its wealth of expertise in developing Navy unmanned aircraft at Naval Air Station Patuxent River and Webster Outlying Field.
