The first beyond the line of sight Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) flight in Kansas\u00c2\u00a0was flown last week north of the town of Gypsum in a joint effort by the Kansas\u00c2\u00a0Department of Transportation (KDOT) and more than 30 university and corporate\u00c2\u00a0partners. This was also the second flight in the nation to take place under the U.S.\u00c2\u00a0DOT\u2019s UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP). Additional flights continue throughout the week with AirMap, Pulse Aerospace and Iris Automation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re proud of what we\u2019re doing in Kansas to create new jobs, improve flight safety\u00c2\u00a0and advance agriculture,\u201d said Bob Brock, KDOT Director of Aviation and UAS. \u201cOur\u00c2\u00a0flights mark the beginning of a new generation of Kansas innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n
KDOT was selected in May as one of only 10 organizations in the nation to lead the\u00c2\u00a0UAS IPP, an initiative aimed at shaping the future of drones. The flights this week, and\u00c2\u00a0future flights, will test aircraft capability and reliability for continued beyond line of sight\u00c2\u00a0operations while collecting data to expand advanced UAS operations nationwide.<\/p>\n
Over the next two years, various Kansas IPP team partners will conduct tests over\u00c2\u00a0transmission lines, farms, roads and other infrastructure well clear of Kansas citizens.\u00c2\u00a0This program will also assist the U.S. DOT and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in\u00c2\u00a0shaping new rules to expand safe UAS integration into the National Airspace System\u00c2\u00a0and create new opportunities for the state and UAS industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cKansas has been a valuable aviation partner for decades and the launch of the IPP is\u00c2\u00a0another opportunity for us to work with all of the professionals here in Kansas as we\u00c2\u00a0take the next steps that will pave the way toward full integration of unmanned aircraft\u00c2\u00a0into the national airspace,\u201d said Dennis King, FAA Program Manager for Kansas UAS\u00c2\u00a0IPP.<\/p>\n
The Kansas IPP team\u2019s partners will focus on integrating UAS operations into Kansas\u00c2\u00a0industries involved in infrastructure inspection and precision agriculture. Partnerships\u00c2\u00a0with the FAA and Kansas IPP team members will continue to foster expansion of UAS\u00c2\u00a0operations for the state and the nation.<\/p>\n
More information about the FAA UAS IPP can be found at:\u00c2\u00a0https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/uas\/programs_partnerships\/uas_integration_pilot_program\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first beyond the line of sight Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) flight in Kansas\u00c2\u00a0was flown last week north of the town of Gypsum in a joint effort by the Kansas\u00c2\u00a0Department of Transportation (KDOT) and more than 30 university and corporate\u00c2\u00a0partners. This was also the second flight in the nation to take place under the U.S.\u00c2\u00a0DOT\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kansas","category-unmanned-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10857,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10856\/revisions\/10857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}