Mid-Atlantic Drone Test Site Reports Progress

In its first year of operation as an FAA-designated test site for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) hosted 338 flights for 161 total flight hours, the partnership announced at a public meeting on August 24. The site, managed by Virginia Tech University and including participation from Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey, tested 13 platforms ranging from lightweight quadcopters and the Sensefly eBee flying wing to the 75-pound mtow, catapult-launched Textron Systems Aerosonde. It received a certificate of authorization from the FAA in August last year to being operating.

The MAAP meeting in Arlington, Va., was the first of seven public meetings the six FAA test sites and its UAS“Center of Excellence” will host over the next several weeks. The University of Alaska test site will hold a meeting in Fairbanks on August 27; the state of Nevada, September 17; the North Dakota Department of Commerce in Grand Forks, September 23; Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, September 25; and Griffiss International Airport in Utica, N.Y., September 29. Mississippi State University, which leads a consortium the FAA selected as its UAS “Center of Excellence,” will hold a public meeting on September 15 in Starkville, Miss.