The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday announced a new, “long-lasting” advisory committee to help it with integrating the operations of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the national airspace and with obtaining broad support for an integration strategy.

The Drone Advisory Committee (DAC) will provide an open forum for various stakeholders, decision makers and the FAA to safely introduce UAS into the airspace. The committee will be chaired by Intel [INTC] CEO Brian Krzanich and the designated federal official will be FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. Photo: FAA
FAA Administrator Michael Huerta on Wednesday told attendees at the annual AUVSI conference that a final rule on integrating small UAS in the national airspace will be issued late this spring. Photo: FAA

“Input from stakeholders is critical to our ability to achieve that perfect balance between integration and safety,” Huerta stated in a speech at the annual AUVSI Conference in New Orleans.

Huerta said he reached out to Krzanich, who is also a pilot, because “UAS innovation is moving at the speed of Silicon Valley. So it only makes sense that we asked a Silicon Valley leader to help us with this important step.”

Membership in the DAC will include UAS manufacturers, operators, applications service providers, airports and airport communities, avionics manufacturers, the Defense Department, pilots, controllers and maintenance executives, the FAA, NASA, academia, the research and development community, and others, the FAA said.

The FAA previously established short-term stakeholder engagement committees to help with ongoing registration of small UAS user and micro UAS rulemaking. Huerta said that so far there are 443,000 hobbyists that have registered their drones with the FAA.

Establishment of the DAC comes just as the FAA is prepared to issue a final rule on the commercial use of small UAS, which by definition weigh less than 55 pounds, in the national airspace. The proposed framework of regulations was announced in February 2015 and Huerta said at AUVSI that the final rule will be ready by late spring.

“This will make it a lot easier to operate in the National Airspace System,” Huerta said.

Huerta also said that bigger challenges await UAS operations and that attention must be focused on these issues, which include command and control, detect and avoid, aircraft and operator certification, spectrum, and frequency management and allocation. The FAA will deal with these challenges through three high-level strategic priorities, he said.

The first is “safely enabling UAS operations” in the national airspace, Huerta said. The second is “adaptability” so that new technology can be “safely and rapidly introduced,” he said. The final priority is “global leadership…to shape the global standards and practices for unmanned aircraft through international collaboration,” he said.

“These priorities form the backbone of a comprehensive strategic plan that we have developed for UAS integration, which we expect to unveil soon,” Huerta said.

Huerta also announced that beginning immediately the FAA will start allowing students to operate UAS for educational and research purposes. The new plan means schools and students don’t need a Section 333 exemption or any other authorization to fly as long as they follow rules for model aircraft.

“Schools and universities are incubators for tomorrow’s great ideas, and we think this is going to be a significant shot in the arm for innovation,” Huerta said.

Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 allows the Department of Transportation to determine whether an airworthiness certificate is required for a UAS to safely operate in the national airspace.