The concept of rescuing an out-of-control drone before it crashes to the ground has still not penetrated far into the nascent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry, but parachute manufacturer Fruity Chutes aims to change that. Unlike a helicopter, multi-rotor drones cannot autorotate to the ground after losing power, and a ballistic system that pops out a parachute can save an expensive vehicle from certain destruction as well as protect people on the ground from the impact of something falling out of the sky.

Gene Engelgau founded Fruity Chutes in 2007 to provide parachutes for hobby rocketeers and for payload recovery for research balloons. In 2009, he noticed that radio control modelers were asking about parachute systems, and he began supplying that market, which soon morphed into today’s growing drone industry. Fruity Chutes makes the parachute canopies and shrouds, not the ballastic mechanisms that deploy the parachutes. The company does sell Skycat’s parachute launcher and the Peregrine CO2-powered integrated launcher, fitted with Fruity Chutes designed to land drones of various sizes. Customers include Boeing, SpaceX and Textron as well as Google, which has flown balloons and drones for airborne Internet research purposes. Drones equipped with Fruity Chutes systems range from small UAVs (two to three pounds) to large (700-pound) fixed-wing UAVs.

Drone chutes aren’t just for rescuing failing aircraft but also for recovery of fixed-wing UAVs in hostile terrain. While a fixed-wing drone can land safely in a clear area, that isn’t always available. A Canadian drone operator flies its fixed-wing aircraft with Fruity Chutes that pop open to allow for a soft landing without the need for a skilled pilot to steer the craft into a clear space. “They also can take off with a catapult when there's nowhere suitable to land,” Engelgau said, “at mining sites, for example, where it’s rocky. In that case the chute recovery becomes primary and not just secondary.”

Unlike one-time-use ballistic parachute systems mounted to some general aviation aircraft, drone chute systems can be reused until they wear out, often hundreds of times. The deployment mechanism, whether mechanical like the Skycat or CO2-based like the Peregrine system, can be reset in the field and the chute repacked for reuse. The chute canopies are made from 1.1-ounce calendared ripstop nylon that meets Mil Spec PIA-C 44378 Type IV. The shroud lines are made of 400-pound test IIIa Paraline for larger chutes or high-strength Spectra for small chutes.

Fruity Chutes start with simple systems that use a drogue chute to pull out the main chute, which works as long as the aircraft is moving through the air, and thus these are limited to fixed-wing UAVs. Cost for a three- to five-kg fixed-wing UAV is $225 to $300. Multi-rotor drones require ballistic deployment so the chute is ejected out and away from the drone. A Skycat system with a Fruity Chutes canopy sells for about $500 for a lightweight drone and up to $900 for a 10-kg drone. Peregrine systems with canopy sell in the $3,000 range, for drones weighing up to 100 kg. Fruity Chutes doesn’t sell canopies for manned aircraft, and Engelgau isn’t currently interested in that market as it is well served by existing companies, and manned aircraft parachute recovery systems entail extra layers of certification and liability.

Engelgau sees plenty of opportunities for drone parachute systems because of rules designed to protect people beneath drones, but also to prevent losing a device that costs tens of thousands of dollars. If a drone crashes, he explained, “you’re pretty much guaranteed a bad outcome. With a chute, there’s a high probability of a good outcome.” He believes that regulators will allow more drone flying over people when the drones are equipped with parachutes. A parachute cuts the energy of impact by 98 percent, he said. “A chute system is like an airbag or a seatbelt for cars; it’s a safety device with a clear benefit.”

While more countries’ regulators are embracing drone parachutes, not many drone manufacturers have done so, he said. Just as the auto industry finally added modern safety features after they were mandated, Engelgau expects that regulators will favor drones equipped with parachute systems, especially when flown over populated areas. “There’s a huge opportunity, especially down the road as more countries mandate that operators need chute systems. This has already happened in Europe. They’ve taken the approach that they have to limit impact energy to 69 joules, to fly over people or populated areas.”

A factor holding back the addition of parachute recovery systems to drones is that many drone manufacturers don’t make available a servo channel and switch on the transmitter to operate the chute. Operators can purchase a separate system with its own transmitter and servo to activate a chute, which has the advantage of providing redundancy because it isn’t dependent on the main transmitter/receiver system. “But manufacturers are not motivated [to include the extra servo channel] because they’re not forced to do it,” he said. As more operators ask for parachute recovery systems, drone manufacturers should also add features to incorporate these systems into their products, Engelgau said.

Fruity Chutes has sold products to 3,000 customers, and it offers 40 different parachute models in four product lines with 150 accessory items.

The national drone registry the FAA created through an expedited rulemaking last year marked its one-year anniversary on December 21. As of that date, more than 616,000 people had registered via the agency’s site to operate one or more small drones for recreation. The FAA convened an industry-government task force to develop the registration system in November 2015 and quickly enacted a regulation out of concern that hundreds of thousands of drones given as holiday gifts would flood the airspace system, with no way of identifying operators who fly irresponsibly. The agency now requires that owners of drones weighing from 250 grams—or about half a pound—up to 55 pounds register online and affix an identification number to each aircraft they own. Registration costs $5 and remains valid for three years.

“As part of the process, applicants receive and must acknowledge some basic safety information. That means more than 600,000 drone operators now have the basic aviation knowledge to keep themselves and their friends and neighbors safe when they fly,” the FAA stated in a first-anniversary release. “We wanted you to know you’re part of something bigger, and to convey a sense of shared responsibility,” Administrator Michael Huerta added in a video accompanying the release.

Separately, the FAA as of early December had processed more than 22,000 applications for remote-pilot certificates to operate small drones commercially under its Part 107 regulation, which took effect on August 29. Applicants who are already trained as pilots must pass an online test to fly drones commercially; non-pilots must pay $150 and pass a 60-question aeronautical knowledge test.

Quite apart from the drone the neighborhood kid sails over the hedgerow, the FAA and industry observers expect that hundreds of thousands of small, commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) will eventually seek access to the nation’s airspace. For some four years now, the NASA-led UAS Traffic Management (UTM) research effort has worked to shape the rules and capabilities of this coming low-altitude ecosystem.

Spearheaded by NASA senior engineer for air transportation systems Parimal Kopardekar—better known as “P.K.”—the UTM concept of a low-altitude airspace management system for drones dates to 2012. The space agency provided seed money for the effort initially, then established it as a program with $15.6 million in funding in Fiscal Year 2015. Some 120 UAS manufacturers, software system developers, communications companies and other entities answered a NASA solicitation to collaborate on the system development; a number have formalized their participation through Space Act Agreements. NASA listed 65 “UTM Partners” as of September.

The space agency and the FAA have formed a joint research transition team, and plans call for transferring UTM technology to the FAA by 2019.

In October, testers demonstrated UTM Technical Capability Level 2 (TCL2), focused on beyond visual line-of-sight operations in sparsely populated areas. Operators flew scenarios with multiple fixed- and rotary-wing drones from Reno-Stead Airport near Reno, Nevada, exercising the ability of the UTM software platform to safely separate drones interacting with the system and each other via common data-exchange protocols. The platform ingested real-time aircraft tracking and both real and simulated weather data, alerted operators to potential conflicts with other drones and manned aircraft and warned them of a drone’s nonconformance with its flight plan. For the first time, the system demonstrated the capability to dynamically re-route flights when drone operators sought to amend their flight plans to adapt to changing airspace conditions or mission requirements.

TCL3, scheduled for January next year, will test technologies for safely separating “cooperative” unmanned aircraft—those that have transponders to signal their position—and “non-cooperative” drones that do not, over moderately populated areas. TCL4 will test the UTM construct for higher-density urban areas. Ultimately, NASA envisions two types of UTM systems: a portable system that would move between geographical locations to support “precision agriculture,” disaster relief and other missions for drones; and a “persistent” system that would support low-altitude drone operations in a fixed geographical area.

New York State of Mind

NASA hosted a first UTM conference at Moffett Field, California, the site of Ames Research Center, in July 2015; the second annual conference took place in November in Syracuse, New York. Co-located at Syracuse Airport is Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, where the 174th Attack Wing operates the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper. Some 50 miles to the east, Griffiss International Airport in Rome is home to an FAA-designated UAS test site managed by the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance.

With those and other resources at its disposal, the central New York region is positioning itself as an unmanned aircraft industry hub. In December 2015, the state awarded the region $500 million in economic development funding, half of which was earmarked for infrastructure spending on the UAS industry over five years. Under that program, Syracuse University is leading the establishment of the National Unmanned Aerial Standardized Performance Testing and Rating facility, described as the “Underwriters Lab for drones” that will set standards for UAS airworthiness certification.

At the UTM conference, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New York will invest $30 million of the funding to develop an instrumented UAS flight corridor between the Syracuse and Rome airports using NASA-developed air traffic management concepts.

“They’re projecting that this could be a trillion-dollar industry,” Cuomo later told reporters. “The county executive of central New York has been very aggressive about developing a platform and a strategy to bring that industry here. This unmanned aerial industry is going to develop somewhere, and the county executive’s point is it should develop here in central New York, and we will create the conditions to bring it here.”

UTM conference speakers were similarly enthusiastic about the industry’s prospects and their ability to manage the anticipated growth in disparate drone traffic through common software protocols and Internet-enabled “cloud” data sharing. Jonathan Evans, CEO of Portland, Oregon-based Skyward, which provides an Internet-based mapping and flight-planning tool for drones, said he is a “passionate evangelical for the notion of software-defined airspace, network-managed robots and airspace.” This is the “Jetsons vision” the American public has long imagined, he added. “We can show that with the simple tech of today—with [application programming interface] driven architectures and cloud-based databases—we can say who is flying what in space, where and when. We can exchange that information.”

For now, planners envision the UTM construct taking shape in Class G uncontrolled airspace below 500 feet agl—keeping drone traffic below the FAA’s prescribed minimum safe altitude for manned general aviation aircraft in other than congested areas.

“The FAA provides services in the controlled airspace; in uncontrolled airspace the FAA typically doesn’t provide services,” Kopardekar explained. “When you have that kind of a division, it lends nicely to innovation because now we can focus on pieces of airspace that are uncontrolled, where the FAA or any air navigation service provider does not provide services, which provides an opportunity for all of us to innovate much faster and look for new opportunities in terms of technical and operational capabilities as well as business models.

“UTM resides right now under the ‘service not provided’ airspace category, but it has hooks to go into [other airspace]—the vehicles can go back and forth between the airspace where the services are provided and where they’re not provided,” he added.

Kopardekar acknowledged that the system architecture “sounds simple on paper, but has huge implications” for the roles and responsibilities of the FAA and what system architects call UAS service suppliers—organizations other than the FAA that would provide drone authentication, flight planning and tracking services in a federated UTM network. Relieved of those responsibilities, the FAA will retain its role as the overarching regulator.

Offering a taste of the companies interested in being UAS service suppliers, telecommunications giant AT&T announced a formal collaboration with NASA at the UTM conference, saying it brings expertise in wireless networking, extracting information from devices and machines through the “Internet of Things,” cloud services, identity management and cybersecurity. “Working with NASA and others, we are designing the management system for a new frontier in aviation,” Mike Leff, vice president with AT&T Global Public Sector Solutions, said. “This research can help support the commercial and private use of drones nationwide.”

While the UTM concept emerged as a technical challenge at the NASA Ames center in California’s Silicon Valley, Congress formally directed the FAA to be involved in the FAA Extension, Safety and Security Act of 2016, which became law on July 15. The reauthorization legislation calls on the FAA Administrator, in coordination with NASA’s Administrator, to produce a research plan for UTM development and deployment. “The research plan shall include an assessment of the interoperability of a UTM system with existing and potential future air traffic management systems and processes,” the act instructs. The act also directs the FAA and other parties to establish a UTM system pilot program.

The FAA took a step toward UTM oversight with the release of a “UAS Notification and Authorization” request for information (RFI) to industry last August, later amended. Its objectives in issuing the RFI were to develop “a practical approach to information and data sharing” between the FAA and private entities involved in small UAS (sUAS) operations, and to organize demonstrations of data-sharing techniques for notification and authorization of drones plying the airspace.

“Information sharing readily lends itself to automated technologies since there are many ways information may be shared and exchanged, using web-based and other technologies,” the solicitation states. “However, currently there are no conventions or standards for exchanging information between FAA and external entities about sUAS operations using automated techniques and standards.”

Leonardo-Finmeccanica has taken ownership of an Italian company that developed the SD-150 Hero small unmanned helicopter. The acquisition, announced on December 27, builds on Leonardo’s stable of unmanned aircraft, which includes the SW-4 Solo optionally piloted helicopter.

Leonardo said it acquired the remaining 60 percent of shares of Sistemi Dinamici of Pisa, Italy, for an undisclosed amount. The latter company was formed in 2006 as a joint venture between IDS Ingegneria Dei Sistemi and Leonardo’s former AgustaWestland subsidiary to focus on helicopter flight dynamics, fly-by-wire controls and unmanned aircraft.

“This acquisition is a testament to the quality of our investments in the field of unmanned systems, a sector with high added value in which Leonardo is a leader in Europe,” said Mauro Moretti, Leonardo CEO and general manager. “Thanks to a defined investment strategy, our portfolio is further enriched, making Leonardo even more competitive and ready to meet the future challenges in advanced technologies.”

Sistemi Dinamici’s SD-150 Hero is a 220-pound empty weight (330-pound mtow) helicopter with a 50-hp, two-stroke engine and three-blade main rotor system. Hosting modular underbelly and nose payload bays and capable of flying autonomous preprogrammed missions, the aircraft is designed for civil aerial inspection and monitoring applications as well as for homeland security missions.

On December 16, Leonardo announced the first flight a day earlier of the SW-4 Solo, an optionally piloted version of the SW-4 single-engine light helicopter originally developed by Poland’s PZL-Swidnik, since 2010 part of Leonardo. Italy’s ENAC civil aviation authority and the Pugliese aerospace technology district participated in the maiden flight, which took place at Taranto-Grottaglie Airport. Flight testing will continue into the first few months of 2017, with validation of procedures and regulations for the use of unmanned aircraft among key objectives, Leonardo said.

In a separate development earlier this year, ENAC awarded the first RPAS (remotely piloted aircraft system) project certificate to IDS’s IA-3 Colibri quadcopter. The type certification allows for series production of the 2.2 kg (4.8 pound) empy weight drone, which serves for aerial inspection as well as surveillance and reconnaissance missions, IDS announced in August.

“The award of this certification to the IA-3 Colibri offers a great advantage to its users in that they will now not be required to prove the IA-3 Colibri’s suitability but will only have to demonstrate operational compliance aspects when applying for authorization,” IDS said.

Bell Helicopter unveiled a new unmanned tiltrotor aircraft—the V-247 Vigilant—it is proposing for the U.S. Marine Corps. The manufacturer displayed a one-eighth-scale model of the aircraft with a working swiveling wing at a briefing September 22 in Washington, D.C.

Bell has designed the Vigilant to meet a need expressed in the 2016 Marine Aviation Plan for a large, “sea-baseable” unmanned aircraft system (UAS) capable of performing multiple missions. It would be a Group 5 UAS—weighing 16,000 pounds empty, with the ability to carry 13,000 pounds in fuel, weapons such as the MK-50 torpedo, Hellfire or JAGM missiles, and sensors including sonobuoys and LiDAR or radar modules. Advertised mission range is 450 nm, with time on station of 11 hours.

The vertical takeoff and landing machine builds on Bell’s development of the V-280 manned tiltrotor for the U.S. Army’s joint multi-role demonstration program. There is “significant leveraging of V-280 technology” in the Vigilant, said Vince Tobin, Bell vice president for advanced tiltrotor systems. The design also benefits from Bell’s work on tiltrotors dating to the XV-3 in the 1950s, a legacy that includes the unmanned Eagle Eye developed—but never purchased—for a U.S. Navy requirement in the 1990s and the V-22 Osprey used by the Marine Corps, the Air Force Special Operations Command and eventually by the Navy as the CMV-22B.

Sized to be compatible with the Navy’s DDG-class guided-missile destroyers, the single-engine Vigilant has a V-shaped empennage and fixed center wing that swivels from an in-line position to perpendicular of the fuselage. Outboard prop-rotors and wingtips rotate up for vertical flight and down for horizontal flight. The aircraft’s wingspan is 65 feet; its rotors fold out to a diameter of 30 feet. The wingtips fold back over the center wing, which swivels back over the fuselage for stowage.

The Vigilant promises “expeditionary capability with increased operational flexibility and a reduced logistical footprint,” said Tobin. “The real advantage of this is it colocates with the maneuver force and it isn’t reliant on a runway.”

Bell expects the Marine Corps will establish a formal requirement for the ship-based UAS capability soon, leading to the selection of a contractor to begin engineering and manufacturing development. Bell contends it can start building Vigilants by 2023. “The question that we’re asked is how fast can you go? We interpret that [as being] a near-term need,” Tobin said.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) said it conducted one of the largest demonstrations of “swarming” micro drones in October at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California. The Pentagon announced the demonstration on January 9, the day after it was featured on the CBS news program 60 Minutes, which was granted exclusive access to the test.

Three F/A-18 Super Hornets launched 103 Perdix micro drones for the exercise, which the Pentagon intended as a demonstration of advanced swarm behaviors such as collective decision-making and adaptive formation flying of autonomous air vehicles. Designed in 2011 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineering students, the 10-ounce, tandem-wing Perdix was modified for military use by MIT Lincoln Laboratory beginning in 2013, according to the announcement. Made from commercial components, the design is now in its sixth generation.

The Pentagon’s Stategic Capabilities Office (SCO) and the Naval Air Systems Command conducted the October test. It was one of the DOD’s first such demonstrations using teams of small autonomous aircraft, and confirmed the air vehicle design under potential deployment conditions encountered during ejection from a fighter’s flare dispensers. Air Force pilots first launched the Perdix from F-16 flare canisters at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in September 2014; a year later 90 Perdix operations, including land and maritime surveillance missions, were flown during the U.S. Pacific Command’s Northern Edge exercise in Alaska. The latter exercise hosted one of the first swarm demonstrations consisting of 20 drones.

“Due to the complex nature of combat, Perdix are not pre-programmed synchronized individuals, they are a collective organism, sharing one distributed brain for decision-making and adapting to each other like swarms in nature,” said William Roper, SCO director. “Because every Perdix communicates and collaborates with every other Perdix, the swarm has no leader and can gracefully adapt to drones entering or exiting the team.”

The SCO is working with the military services to transition Perdix into existing programs of record, with a goal of producing batches of up to 1,000 of the micro vehicles, the Pentagon said. It is working with a sister organization—the Defense Industrial Unit-Experimental (DIUx)—to identify companies “capable of accurately replicating Perdix using the MIT Lincoln Laboratory design.” Outgoing secretary of Defense Ash Carter spearheaded the creation of both the SCO (as deputy secretary in 2012) and the DIUx.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) and its developer reported this month that a small unmanned aircraft powered by a heavy-fuel engine flew for 56 hours without refueling, setting an apparent flight record for its subclass. Vanilla Aircraft, based at Falls Church in Virginia, is developing the VA001 for military communications and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions as well as commercial remote-sensing applications.

Testers flew the VA001 from the New Mexico State University Unmanned Air Systems Flight Test Center near Las Cruces International Airport in New Mexico, beginning the morning of November 30 through the afternoon of December 2. Towed by a truck on takeoff and powered by a four-cycle engine and pusher propeller, the airplane flew at an altitude of between 6,500 feet and 7,500 feet msl, at an average speed of 57 knots.

A representative of the National Aeronautic Association, which verifies aviation records, certified the flight as achieving the world duration record for a combustion-powered UAV in the 50 kg-to-500 kg (110 pound-to-1,102 pound) subclass, according to the January 3 announcement. Plans called for a 120-hour mission, but the flight “was ended early due to forecasted severe icing and range restrictions,” Vanilla Aircraft said. “The airplane landed with enough JP-8 fuel on board for an additional 90 hours of flying.”

First flown in February 2015, the VA001 is designed to carry a 30-pound payload at 15,000 feet for up to 10 days without refueling. It has a 36-foot wing mounted above its fuselage, and a maximum gross takeoff weight of 600 pounds.

“The VA001 has transformational potential, providing a scalable aerial system solution without increasing personnel or operating costs,” said Neil Boertlein, Vanilla Aircraft co-founder and chief engineer. “The ability of a low-cost platform to provide persistent surveillance, battlefield pattern of life, or aerial mesh network relay, in a responsive and robust manner, and without forward basing, does not currently exist.”

For the record-setting flight, the VA001 carried real and simulated payloads totaling 20 pounds. Included were a communications relay provided by the Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) that “operated continuously throughout the flight to demonstrate functionality out to the maximum range,” and a NASA-supplied multispectral imaging payload to demonstrate remote sensing for Earth science and agricultural applications.

Technology investments made by the Department of Defense’s Rapid Reaction Technology Office and Darpa-funded efforts through Navair supported the flight.

“This record-breaking flight demonstrated the feasibility of designing a low-cost UAV able to take off from one side of a continent, fly to the other, perform its duties for a week, and come back—all on the same tank of fuel,” said Jean-Charles Ledé, Darpa’s program manager. “This capability would help extend the footprint of small units by providing scalable, persistent UAV-based communications and ISR coverage without forward basing, thereby reducing personnel and operating costs.”

Vanilla Aircraft plans to attempt a 120-hour flight again “soon,” and to conduct an operational demonstration with a larger optical payload.

Policymakers plan to complete work this summer on rules allowing for uniform operation of small drones within European Union member states. The European Commission (EC) is also advancing a “U-Space” drone traffic management system comparable to the UTM model in the U.S., with the goal of “making drones part of the European citizens’ daily lives by 2019.”

The EC, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament plan “trilogue” meetings in February to reconcile their positions on amending the framing regulation of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to incorporate drones. They aim to complete the process by mid-year, said Greg Guice, a U.S. attorney who serves as manager and director of operations of the Brussels-based Drone Alliance Europe (DAE). Guice provided an update on European drone policy at the January 11 meeting of the International Aviation Club in Washington, D.C.

Revisions of EASA’s Basic Regulation will introduce EU-wide rules for drones, establishing design and operation requirements to ensure safety. Currently, individual nations have responsibility for drones weighing less than 150 kg (330 pounds). Last August, EASA released a more specific “prototype” regulation for consultation by member states; it proposes risk-based rules for two groups of drone operations—an “open” category that is minimally restrictive and a “specific” category that requires prior authorization of an operation. The draft regulation did not address a third, “certified” category, that EASA intends for larger drones that will fly with manned aircraft in unrestricted airspace.

EASA in November convened an expert working group to review the draft regulations. The EU aviation safety agency based in Cologne, Germany, plans to release a notice of proposed amendment in March, Guice said.

Also in November, EC Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc announced the U-Space initiative at the High Level Conference on Drones held in Warsaw. As described, U-Space—the “U” stands for urban—will be an automation-based construct for managing drone traffic at up to 150 meters (492 feet) and below. Similarly, in the U.S., NASA is leading the development of an Unmanned Aircraft System Air Traffic Management, or UTM, concept to manage small drones at low altitudes.  

The EC plans to convene a task force early this year to develop the U-Space concept and begin demonstration projects as soon as possible. It says it has set aside €40 million ($43 million) to invest in the effort. “The infrastructure, software and data to build a U-Space are already available,” the commission said. “The challenge is to integrate the existing building blocks into a genuine efficient system and, at the same time, tackle safety, security and environmental concerns.”

EU policymakers speak of a potential drone services market ranging anywhere from €200 million ($212 million) to several billion euros. Bulc envisions small drones being introduced into European airspace in a uniform way by the end of the current EC, which is led by Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg.

“My vision is to see drones starting to become part of our daily lives by the end of the Juncker Commission, without fear and anger from our citizens,” Bulc told the Warsaw conference, according to written remarks. “So my cards are on the table. Are you ready to meet this challenge by 2019?”

Guice’s group was formed in early 2016 to represent drone technology companies before European political leaders and regulators.

On its website, the DAE lists Altitude Angel, Amazon Prime Air, Delft Aerial Robotics, Gatewing, X (formerly Google X), Parazero Pyrotechnic Parachute Systems and Unifly as members. Andrew Charlton, a former Qantas Airways chief legal officer and executive with the International Air Transport Association and SITA, serves as DAE executive director. He is managing director of Aviation Advocacy, a consulting firm based outside of Geneva, Switzerland. Guice, a senior counsel with the firm Akin Gump in Washington, D.C., previously served as director of legislative affairs with the Federal Communications Commission.

The FAA and Chicago-based SkyPan International have reached a “comprehensive settlement” of alleged improper drone flights that calls for the company to pay a $200,000 fine and assist the agency with its public outreach campaign on drone regulations. Announced on January 17, the fine is the largest monetary penalty the FAA has collected for operations involving unmanned aircraft systems.

In a press release, SkyPan said it was pleased to resolve the enforcement action the FAA announced in October 2015 to punish the company for drone flights over Chicago and New York City between 2012 and 2014. At the time, the FAA proposed a $1.9 million fine, the largest such civil penalty. “While neither admitting nor contesting the allegations that these commercial operations were contrary to FAA regulations, SkyPan wishes to resolve this matter without any further expense or delay of business,” the company said. “In exchange, the FAA makes no finding of violation.”

SkyPan agreed to pay an additional $150,000 if it violates FAA regulations in the next year, and $150,000 more if it fails to comply with the terms of the three-year agreement. The aerial photography company will work with the FAA on three public service announcements over the next year to encourage proper drone operations and compliance with regulations.

The entirety of the contested flights took place two years before the August 29 effective date of the FAA’s Part 107 regulation for small unmanned aircraft systems, and “all but a few” were conducted before the FAA started issuing exemptions for drone flights in September 2014 under the Section 333 process, SkyPan said in its release. “SkyPan has never had an accident, and SkyPan has never compromised citizens’ privacy or security,” the company said, adding that it obtained a Section 333 exemption in 2015.

Founded in 1988, SkyPan provides aerial panoramic photography for the real estate and construction industries using a system hosted on an Align T Rex 700E model helicopter.

“SkyPan owns a patent for its panoramic aerial technology system and uses professional-grade digital camera systems to produce interactive 360-degree photos showing future views at exactly-measured, multiple heights,” the company said. “These SkyPan digital images assist clients with pre-planning needs such as entitlements and zoning, investor presentations, pricing studies and architectural design, and in later phases of development as integral components of their marketing teams’ pre-sales and sales presentations.”

Textron Systems has at least one potential customer for a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) version of its Aerosonde small unmanned aircraft system. The Aerosonde Hybrid Quadrotor (HQ) adds four rotors to what is otherwise a catapult-launched fixed-wing aircraft.

“Our customer has asked us for an estimate in terms of time and dollars to get it out there,” said David Phillips, Textron Systems vice president of small and medium endurance UAS. While he declined to identify the interested customer, the majority of Aerosonde users are military services, including the U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force and Special Operations Command.

Textron Systems announced in late April that it had demonstrated a VTOL version of the Aerosonde with assistance from Latitude Engineering and Cloud Cap Technology. The company exhibited a full-sized model for the first time at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) conference that began October 3 in Washington, D.C. It plans to further demonstrate the aircraft later this week at its new Unmanned Systems Service and Support Center in Blackstone, Va.

The Aerosonde has accumulated more than 150,000 flight hours over its history and now operates 6,000 hours a month as a contractor owned and operated service Textron Systems provides to its customers. The Aerosonde HQ, in development since early 2015, “is an application in the field of a kit on a very mature aircraft,” noted Phillips. VTOL capability is accomplished by replacing the twin structural booms of the aircraft with two thicker booms, each supporting two small rotors powered by electric motors. The rotors raise the aircraft from the ground, then align with the booms for aerodynamic efficiency. The Aerosonde’s Lycoming EL-005 heavy-fuel engine propels it in horizontal flight.

The VTOL version of the Aerosonde requires less equipment than even the Flying Launch and Recovery System (Flares) that Insitu has developed for its smaller ScanEagle unmanned aircraft. Not a kit, Flares is a separate quadcopter that lifts the ScanEagle to a launch altitude, then recovers it in flight with a suspended rope. “With four electric, independently powered motors you can get rid of the launch and control element,” Phillips said. “You can be extremely expeditionary.”

There is an “endurance trade” of about 30 percent using the VTOL version, however. In traditional configuration, the Aerosonde is capable of flying for 15 hours; the Aerosonde HQ fitted with an electro-optical/infrared sensor payload stays aloft for eight hours—with 10 hours as the goal, Phillips said.

Textron Systems promotes the 80-pound Aerosonde for missions including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), signals intelligence and communications relay. The company has discussed with the U.S. Army the possibility of developing a VTOL version of the 460-pound RQ-7B Shadow, but that is not a formal program, Phillips said.

Also at the AUSA conference, Textron Systems unveiled the new “Synturian” system, described as a multi-platform, multi-vehicle, multi-domain control system for unmanned air, ground and sea vehicles. The company envisions Synturian eventually replacing the Army’s current Universal Ground Control Station and One System Remote Video Terminal for controlling and monitoring Shadow and Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft. It also has application for the V-247 Vigilant unmanned tiltrotor aircraft that sister company Bell Helicopter is proposing to the Marine Corps, according to Bell.

The FAA and Chicago-based SkyPan International have reached a “comprehensive settlement” of alleged improper drone flights that calls for the company to pay a $200,000 fine and assist the agency with its public outreach campaign on drone regulations. Announced on January 17, the fine is the largest monetary penalty the FAA has collected for operations involving unmanned aircraft systems.

In a press release, SkyPan said it was pleased to resolve the enforcement action the FAA announced in October 2015 to punish the company for drone flights over Chicago and New York City between 2012 and 2014. At the time, the FAA proposed a $1.9 million fine, the largest such civil penalty. “While neither admitting nor contesting the allegations that these commercial operations were contrary to FAA regulations, SkyPan wishes to resolve this matter without any further expense or delay of business,” the company said. “In exchange, the FAA makes no finding of violation.”

SkyPan agreed to pay an additional $150,000 if it violates FAA regulations in the next year, and $150,000 more if it fails to comply with the terms of the three-year agreement. The aerial photography company will work with the FAA on three public service announcements over the next year to encourage proper drone operations and compliance with regulations.

The entirety of the contested flights took place two years before the August 29 effective date of the FAA’s Part 107 regulation for small unmanned aircraft systems, and “all but a few” were conducted before the FAA started issuing exemptions for drone flights in September 2014 under the Section 333 process, SkyPan said in its release. “SkyPan has never had an accident, and SkyPan has never compromised citizens’ privacy or security,” the company said, adding that it obtained a Section 333 exemption in 2015.

Founded in 1988, SkyPan provides aerial panoramic photography for the real estate and construction industries using a system hosted on an Align T Rex 700E model helicopter.

“SkyPan owns a patent for its panoramic aerial technology system and uses professional-grade digital camera systems to produce interactive 360-degree photos showing future views at exactly-measured, multiple heights,” the company said. “These SkyPan digital images assist clients with pre-planning needs such as entitlements and zoning, investor presentations, pricing studies and architectural design, and in later phases of development as integral components of their marketing teams’ pre-sales and sales presentations.”

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has awarded Austria’s Schiebel Group a contract to provide its Camcopter S-100 unmanned helicopter and three years of logistics support. The company announced the contract on February 6, but it was signed back in December. It did not disclose the contract value or the number of systems ordered, each of which consists of two aircraft.

With an empty weight of 110 kg (243 pounds) and powered by heavy-fuel or gasoline engines, the S-100 carries a payload of 75 pounds for more than six hours; fitted with an optional external fuel tank it operates for more than 10 hours. Schiebel advertises a beyond line-of-sight operating range of 200 km (124 miles).

The RAN issued a request for tenders last February for an unmanned rotary-wing aircraft to perform maritime and littoral intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. The UMS Skeldar V-200 and the considerably larger Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scout were considered contenders for the requirement.

The service evaluated the S-100 in 2015 for ISR and “forward observer” roles, according to its Navy News newspaper. It experimented with multiple payloads, including a Selex synthetic aperture radar and electronic support measures, as well as the standard Wescam MX-10 turret with electro-optical and infrared cameras.

“The aircraft operates outside the range of the organic sensors of the platform it is operating from and supplements the maritime operating picture for the principal warfare officer. This in turn frees up the manned aircraft,” the newspaper reported.

“Initial testing of the advanced payload and S-100 UAS (unmanned aircraft system) paint the proposed capability in a good light. The on-board processors can be loaded with libraries of signals from known contacts and hunt them, or they can be learnt on-the-fly as the mission develops.”

International aviation and aerospace insurance provider Global Aerospace has launched an online portal for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) insurance products. Its new UAS online portal allows drone owners and operators to purchase an annual insurance policy online and pay securely via credit card.

“For a number of years, Global Aerospace has been developing portal technology to simplify access to our insurance products and help our customers transact business. Global has been at the forefront of insuring the UAS industry, and the development of this portal is another example of our leadership and dedication…to this rapidly expanding market,” said Chris Proudlove, Global Aerospace’s senior vice president and manager of UAS risks.

In related news, the aviation insurer recently published a paper to help existing or potential UAS owners and operators to “understand best practices and safely use this incredible technology in a way that will foster long-term success.” The white paper, “Sky High Drone Growth Presents Challenges and Opportunities,” is available online for free.

NBAA has approved the Unmanned Safety Institute’s (USI) online “Small UAS Ground School” for participation in the NBAA Professional Development Program (PDP). USI is a division of aviation services company Argus International.

The small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) course meets PDP Ops7 and Ops9 objectives, and participants will receive six points toward a CAM application and four points for CAM recertification. According to USI, this is the only NBAAPDP-approved offering on unmanned aviation.

“Our program is based on proven aviation safety fundamentals and establishes a foundation from which to grow and evolve UAS operations. The education provided will greatly assist flight departments being asked to participate in the standing up of unmanned operations by providing a clear understanding of operational considerations,” said USI v-p of operations Josh Olds.

NBAA said the PDP approval recognizes that an increasing number of businesses are exploring the use of small unmanned aircraft systems, which means that there is a need for trained engineers, technicians, marketing personnel and other company employees in this space.

China conducted the first flight of the indigenous Wing-Loong II unmanned aircraft system (UAS) on February 27, the state-run Xinhua News Agency announced. The development coincided with news that manufacturer Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) has received a large order for the reconnaissance and strike drone from an unidentified customer.

First revealed in September 2015 and exhibited as a model at the Singapore Air Show last year, the Wing-Loong II is a new generation, turboprop-powered UAS designed by AVIC’s Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute. The number-one aircraft performed a 31-minute flight from “a highland airfield in western China,” Xinhua said.

Stated specifications of the Wing-Loong II are a wingspan of 67 feet (20.5 meters), maximum takeoff weight of 9,260 pounds (4,200 kg), external payload capacity of 1,058 pounds (480 kg), maximum altitude of 29,527 feet and 20 hours’ endurance. The aircraft bears resemblence to the heavier, more capable U.S.-made MQ-9 Reaper, which carries 3,750 pounds (1,701 kg) and operates to 50,000 feet, according to the U.S. Air Force.

“Its flight marks China’s new generation reconnaissance and strike UAS,” chief designer Li Yidong told Xinhua. “Following the United States, China becomes another country capable of developing such new generation large reconnaissance and strike UAS.” The Wing-Loong II“can rapidly identify then strike against time-critical and fleeting targets. The capability is not possessed by previous unmanned aircraft, even manned aircraft,” he added.

Coincident with the maiden flight, Xinhua reported that an unidentified customer has placed an order for the Wing-Loong II representing China’s largest-ever UAS foreign military sale. Reported operators of the original Wing-Loong including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt have been mentioned as possible recipients.

Harris Corp. has received a two-year, $500,000 grant from the North Dakota Centers of Excellence Commission to enable and test beyond-visual-line-of-sight-operations (BVLOS) for unmanned aircraft systems using an augmented ADS-B network for traffic separation of UASs with other aircraft in the Northern Plains state. The Melbourne, Florida aerospace company is partnering with the University of North Dakota and the Northern Plains UAS Test Site to develop a network infrastructure scalable to the state of North Dakota and eventually to the entire U.S. that would allow UASs to be safely integrated into the National Airspace System.

According to Harris Electronic Systems vice president and general manager of commercial UAS solutions George Kirov, this infrastructure will leverage the existing FAAADS-B ground station network, which the company manages, and use strategically located, Harris-built ADS-B Xtend units to fill in coverage gaps below 400 feet. He said that with six ADS-B Xtend units already in place, “the majority” of North Dakota now has full coverage.

Compared with heavier and higher-cost “see and avoid” systems that can be used only on larger UAS platforms, Harris believes that the availability of low-cost, small and lightweight ADS-B units makes this technology more suitable and economical to safely separate unmanned aircraft—regardless of size—from other traffic. Harris and its partners plan to begin testing of UASBVLOS flights using ADS-B for traffic separation in North Dakota early next year.

Chalk up another inroad for drones in the world of mainstream aviation. On March 2, a DJI Inspire 2 operated by Measure, the “drone as a service” company, deftly delivered the winning raffle envelope at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Aviation Summit in Washington, D.C.

Hundreds of attendees were delighted as Ronney Miller, Measure’s director of flight operations, piloted the buzzing quadcopter over a path that had been cleared from the rear to the front of the ballroom at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Measure media specialist Grant Lowenfeld worked the camera gimbal. An insert mounted in the SSD slot in the aft of the drone carried the envelope, which held two round-trip United Airlines tickets. Chamber master of ceremonies Carol Hallett, who formerly headed the Air Transport Association of America (now Airlines for America) and United CEO Oscar Munoz watched gleefully as the $5,000-plus Inspire 2 and camera ensemble settled to the stage.

This was no Las Vegas technology bazaar—the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the button-down lobbying arm of corporate America; its headquarters are a stone’s throw from the White House. Each year, the aviation summit features CEOs from major airlines and aerospace companies, including this year Alain Bellemare of Bombardier and Dennis Muilenburg of Boeing. Not merely the entertainment, Measure was there as an exhibitor. The 2014 start-up company provides drones and pilots as a turnkey data-gathering solution for energy, construction, telecommunications, farming and other companies. “We don’t make drones,” Measure says. “We make drones work.” In January, it raised $15 million in Series B financing to take the concept beyond the development stage.

There are other examples of drone mainstreaming—some might even call it gentrification. The FAA’s blue-ribbon Drone Advisory Committee, headed by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, comes to mind.

Even the staid FAA is coming around to the cowboy industry. “During the past three years, the FAA has been undergoing a noticeable cultural change as it has embraced what has truly been a fundamental redefinition of the term ‘aviation,’” Administrator Michael Huerta told the Chamber crowd. “For decades, aviation was defined as conventional aircraft doing what they’ve always done: Flying from Point A to Point B as seamlessly as possible. Today, a host of new users want to do the same thing, but with small unmanned aircraft or commercial rocket launches. All of our constituents are looking to the FAA to allow them to fly when and where they want, and to do so safely and efficiently.”

Though it didn’t require agency approval for an indoor operation, Measure’s flight over a ballroom floor was a milestone of sorts in that direction.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) has described its proposal for Australia’s armed medium‑altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) requirement. The company displayed a Reaper UAV and a complete ground control station at the Avalon Airshow last week and introduced its several Australian partners. Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)—the main rival for the Australian contract—also displayed its candidate UAV at the show, the Heron TP.

Project AIR 7003 is the name of the program to acquire the new MALEUAS. Australia’s 2016 Defense White Paper and accompanying Integrated Investment Plan (IIP) called for the procurement to “enhance battlefield intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.” It is not known how many aircraft or systems Australia is seeking, although the IIP allocated A$1-2 billion ($0.75–1.5 billion) for the project starting from 2018, with the selected UAS expected to enter Australian service in the early 2020s.

Team Reaper Australia comprises GA-ASI, Cobham, CAE Australia, Raytheon Australia and Flight Data Systems. AIN understands that the offer will be centered on General Atomics Certifiable Predator B variant of the Reaper. Cobham will offer through-life support and training while CAE, which provided a Reaper simulator for Italian Air Force, is expected to do the same for Australia. Raytheon will supply the electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) camera payload, and Flight Data Systems will supply the flight data recorder required by Australia.  

General Atomics chief executive officer Linden Blue said that his company has “been working closely with the Australian Defence Force to understand the operational needs of AIR 7003 and [is] confident that our RPA System solution will provide mature, persistent, interoperable support to Australia’s warfighters.”

However, Shaul Shahar, executive vice president and general manager of IAI’s military aircraft group, told AIN, “The Heron TP system will fulfill and exceed Australia’s requirements for AIR 7003.” Shahar emphasized that the automation of the Heron TP, with its operator console based on a mouse and keyboard system, will reduce operator workload and fatigue. IAI is currently speaking with a number of potential Australian partner companies.

The Israeli company believes that Australia’s experience with operating the smaller Heron 1 offers it an advantage as the Heron TP and Heron 1 use the same operational concepts and systems. Australia has leased two Heron 1s for operational missions over Afghanistan to support the coalition effort, and has since used the aircraft to gain experience in using unmanned aircraft and to develop procedures for the operation of UAS in civilian-controlled airspace.

But Australian personnel have also reportedly trained on the Reaper with U.S. Air Force units and flown operational missions against the Islamic State over Iraq and Syria.

New Jersey-based industry insurance provider Global Aerospace (Booth 8656) has launched an online portal to support the growing number of commercial unmanned aerial system (UAS) users. The web-based portal will allow drone owners and operators the ability to quickly and efficiently obtain an annual insurance policy and pay securely via credit card.

“For a number of years, Global Aerospace has been developing portal technology to simplify access to our insurance products, and help our customers transact business in a straightforward and efficient manner,” said Chris Proudlove, Global’s senior v-p and manager of UAS risks. “Global has been at the forefront of insuring the UAS industry and the development of this portal is another example of our leadership and dedication to providing innovative tools to this rapidly expanding market.”

Northrop Grumman last month started flight testing the third in a series of sensor payloads intended to enhance the mission capability of the unmanned RQ-4B Block 30 Global Hawk. The manufacturer expects the U.S. Air Force will make a decision on fielding the new MS-177 multi-spectral long-range imaging sensor on Global Hawk by the end of the year.

The first flight of a Global Hawk fitted with the UTC Aerospace Systems’ MS-177 was conducted from Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, California facility on February 8. Flight testing is expected to continue through the first half of the year, followed by operational testing of the sensor in advance of an Air Force fielding decision, the manufacturer said.

MS-177 testing follows flight demonstrations of two UTC sensors used on the manned U-2S intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, but previously unavailable on Global Hawk. In February 2016, Northrop Grumman flew the Senior Year Electro-optical Reconnaissance System-2 (SYERS-2) on the unmanned aircraft and more recently completed flight tests of an optical bar camera broad-area synoptic sensor.

In 2011, Northrop Grumman conducted flight tests of the MS-177 fitted to the Air Force’s E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JStars) platform—a Boeing 707-300. In January and February 2016, General Atomics flew the 500-pound electro-optical/infrared sensor on the turbofan-powered Predator C Avenger unmanned aircraft at Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, California. The U.S. government-funded testing demonstrated the Avenger’s ability to collect high-resolution imagery of land-based and littoral objects with the MS-177 at altitudes above 37,000 feet msl.

UTC announced in September last year that it had started development of an improved MS-177A capable of 10 optical bands under an Air Force design contract calling for the company to begin delivering systems in 2019. The sensor flown on the Global Hawk last month was an MS-177, according to Northrop Grumman.

Under a 2015 cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the Air Force, Northrop Grumman developed a universal payload adaptor that attaches to the underside of the Global Hawk to connect new sensor payloads to the Block 30 aircraft, a “multi-intelligence” platform that carries electro-optical, infrared, synthetic aperture radar and signals intelligence sensors. The manufacturer notes that it developed the payload adaptor and introduced an open mission system (OMS) software architecture to the Global Hawk in 18 months under the CRADA, and at far lesser cost—$80 million—than the Air Force’s initial estimate of $600 million.

Adding capability for other, sophisticated sensors positions the Global Hawk to replace the venerable U-2 Dragon Lady, which the Air Force plans to begin decommissioning in 2019.

“The MS-177 is the new benchmark in imaging ISR sensors and its integration into the Global Hawk platform expands the mission capability we can provide,” said Mick Jaggers, Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk vice president and program manager. “This successful flight is another milestone in an aggressive effort to demonstrate Global Hawk’s versatility and effectiveness in carrying a variety of sensor payloads and support establishing OMS compliancy.”