The FAA, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and NASA have agreed to expand the UAS Executive Committee (ExCom) in a new effort to resolve drone integration policy issues. The UAS ExCom was originally formed in 2009, in order to focus on the Department of Defense’s integration of drones into the national airspace. More recently, the ExCom is designed to improve the communication of federal agencies on drone integration. In a published statement, the FAA said that the UAS ExCom “provides federal agencies with a forum to share information and reduce redundancies on UAS research and development, and resolve policy and procedural issues on safe UAS integration into the nation’s airspace.”
The UAS ExCom is currently chaired by Marke “Hoot” Gibson, retired U.S. Air Force major general and the FAA’s appointed senior advisor on UAS integration. The Committee currently includes representatives from the DHS, NASA and the FAA: the committee will expand to include the Departments of Interior, Justice and Commerce. The new committee is expected to meet quarterly.
“Although NASA operates unmanned aircraft as part of its flight test mission, NASA’s primary role in the UAS EXCOM is focused on our research and development efforts. We look forward to the exchange of ideas with our UAS EXCOM partners” stated Robert Pierce, Deputy Associate Administrator for Strategy, Office of the Associate Administrator NASA Aeronautics Research.
The announcement is the latest in the FAA’s publicized efforts to expand their partnership approach to drone regulation. “…the key to innovation is partnerships with the industry, academia and federal agencies,” Gibson said at the recent SXSW technology conference. The FAA has already formed a committee of drone experts and stakeholders to make recommendations on micro drone regulation, saying that it was basing the decision on the successful task force model used to quickly define and enact the drone registration program at the end of last year.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
TWITTER:@spaldingbarker
Subscribe to DroneLife here.
I wonder how fast they were resolved and how much it cost to resolve, interesting!