In the lull between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the six locations it has chosen as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) test sites as part of the research and certification effort that eventually will see UAS integrated into the National Airspace System [NAS] (“Safety Briefs”). The establishment of a test site program was mandated by the U.S. Congress in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, and represents a significant milestone in the UAS integration process.
The research and testing will not be accomplished overnight. According to the FAA, test site operations will continue until at least mid-February 2017. There are a myriad of problems to be solved and issues to be worked out, not the least of which are widely held privacy concerns. But one day, in the not too distant future, manned and remotely piloted aircraft will ply the same a…
