The first of the Federal Aviation Administration’s designated locations for testing unmanned aerial vehicles as part of plans to integrate them into national airspace has been cleared for operations two months ahead of schedule, the agency said Monday.
The Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site in North Dakota is expected to begin flight operations around May 5. The FAA cleared the site to begin flying the Draganflyer X4ES, a small, rotary aircraft, a certification issued for a two-year period. The aircraft is built by Draganfly Innovations, a maker of small UAVs based in Saskatoon, South Dakota.
The FAA said the main purpose of the initial flight to test the four-rotor craft’s ability to check soil for agricultural research. Agriculture is one many envisioned purposes for the integration of UAVs into the nation’s airspace. Others are law enforcement, firefighting as well as infrastructure monitoring and search and rescue.
The FAA said the testing will also enable the analysis of data needed for integration as well as assessing the air airworthiness of small unmanned systems.
“These data will lay the groundwork for reducing risks and ensuring continued safe operations of UAS,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, who announced the news in North Dakota Monday. “We believe the test site programs will be extremely valuable to integrating unmanned aircraft and fostering America’s leadership in advancing this technology.”
Congress has mandated that the FAA draw up a comprehensive plan for integrating UAVs into the airspace by 2015. Part of that process included the selections in late December of six test sites. The five other sites are located in Alaska, Nevada, New York, Texas and Virginia.
The FAA received more than two dozen applicants.