Droning On Event

Advanced Flight Technologies

By Patrick Sherman | [email protected]

As seen in the September 2023 issue of Model Aviation.

IMAGINE THAT you’re the FAA. Sure, you’re chronically understaffed and haven’t had a permanent leader for the past 18 months, but you’re not going to let that stop you from ensuring the safety of the National Airspace System (NAS)!

A key part of that is helping UAS pilots understand how they can use this technology for applications that range from deadly serious public safety missions to commercial operations to recreational activities occurring safely and within the rules of Part 107 and §44809.

You’ve introduced Part 107 and developed the Remote Pilot in Command Airman Knowledge Test and The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST). You’ve partnered with organizations such as AMA and have promoted events such as Drone Safety Awareness Week. You’ve published press releases until your printer ran out of toner—which didn’t take very long because you’re underfunded as well as understaffed.

That’s when you realized that there is no substitute for getting out there and meeting people face to face, where they live. Such was the impetus behind the development of Droning On, an ongoing series of regional conferences that gives local pilots the opportunity to hear directly from FAA officials and to see some of the work that is being done in their own communities. Each "edition" of Droning On is hosted in collaboration with a local educational institution that has a UAS program and includes a threeday schedule, with each day focused on a different group of drone pilots.

The Drone Cadets, from New York, put on a spirited performance aimed primarily at young people, including a synchronized performance by 18 drones flying under computer control.

The first day focuses on students and educators and explores how UAS can be used to teach and inspire students to pursue STEM subjects in school. The second day is aimed toward first responders and the unique challenges faced by law enforcement, firefighters, and emergency management personnel. The third day, always held on a Saturday, is for the general public to learn more about this technology and how they can safely get involved.

The FAA provided a drone cage to allow new pilots to try their hands at flying. The enclosure put the operations outside of the NAS, so no Part 107 or TRUST certificate was required.

All three days are open to the public and offer a wealth of insights and ideas, along with potentially the most valuable benefit of all: the opportunity to make contact with FAA officials who are personally responsible for the smooth integration of UAS into the NAS.

Coast to Coast

"The first Droning On event was held at the University of Nebraska, in Omaha, in May 2022," said Diana Robinson, a project manager with the FAA’s UAS Integration Office. These events are coordinated with the FAA’s regional office for the area, which divides the country into these jurisdictions: Great Lakes, Eastern, New England, Northwest Mountain, Southern, Southwest, and Western Pacific.

I had the opportunity to attend the Eastern edition at Warren Community College in rural New Jersey earlier this year. Among those who spoke was Mike O’Shea, a program manager in the UAS Integration Office who supports the public safety community. He freely shared his contact information with all in attendance, should they have questions in the future.

Mike also offered some insights into where he expects the FAA to go in the future, as well as current developments that have not been widely publicized. One that caught me off guard was the ability to apply for a waiver for beyond visual line-of-sight operations based on obstruction shielding, an unwieldy phrase made slightly more manageable by the acronym BVLOS-OS.

The basic idea is that, after successful completion of a waiver application, you can fly BVLOS provided that you remain within 50 feet of an obstruction, such as, for example, a bridge or a set of high-tension powerlines. Operations are limited to Class G airspace under visual meteorological conditions, with a hard ceiling of 400 feet above ground level. The remote pilot must also be equipped to receive Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast signals from crewed aircraft operating in the vicinity.

The Droning On event, held at Warren Community College in New Jersey this past spring, included an FPV racing demonstration, as well as appropriate safety precautions to make sure that the audience didn’t get too close to the action.

So that everybody had an opportunity to fly a drone at the event, the FAA provided these palm-sized quads—and plenty of batteries—for people to take a turn at the sticks.

Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Actually … it’s a drone! The live demonstrations of professional UASs were among the highlights for attendees at a recent Droning On event.

While Mike delivered his remarks to the public safety officials who gathered on the second day of the event, this waiver is available for anyone operating a small UAS under Part 107, so, under a specific set of circumstances, at least, BVLOS is no longer the exclusive domain of big, high-tech industry players—and I never would have known that if I hadn’t attended Droning On.

[Editor’s note: AMA members who fly recreational UAS either manually or utilizing FPV, stabilization, or autopilot systems for automated flight, must at all times maintain the UAS within visual line of sight, per the AMA Safety Code, and comply with AMA’s Advanced Flight System programming.]

Meet the Locals

In addition to well-paced FAA officials and representatives of a local education institution with a UAS program, Droning On also brings out groups and organizations that are active in the community to tout their wares. Among those whom I met in New Jersey were the members of Drone Cadets, a nonprofit organization based in New York, who engaged the young people in attendance with a drone swarm demonstration and an opportunity to build 3D airspace models using PVC pipe and their own hands.

The kids weren’t the only people who had the opportunity to go hands-on with UAS technology. The FAA brought out an enclosed drone cage and a number of palmsized drones to fly inside it. Although I didn’t actually take a tally, I think I saw more adults than children flying them throughout the event.

"While we’ve had our share of challenges, responses have been positive to these events," Diana reported. "We always take what we learn so that we can make the next one even better."

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