PrecisionHawk/FAA Pathfinder Report Bolsters BVLOS Drone Missions

A major American drone platform provider is ready to boldly go where few drones have gone before.

North Carolina-based PrecisionHawk released a report today that will mark a new era in Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).

The report, gathered and analyzed by PrecisionHawk and published in partnership with the FAA via the Pathfinder Program, caps a three-year journey effort to better understand the burgeoning space of BVLOS.

The company calls the new report a “blueprint for enterprises to conduct Beyond the Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations.” The report provides “a comprehensive safety case and standards to fly drones BVLOS and has yielded critical information to the FAA regarding drone operations.”

“2018 is going to be the year of BVLOS,” PrecisionHawk CEO Michael Chasen said. He added that the research derived from the report will allow also help drone users detect cooperative and uncooperative aircraft during flight missions. Chasen expanded on the innovation as a keynote speaker at AUVSI’s Xponential show.

“The final report determined that there are three necessary components for BVLOS flight operations: detection, safety, and drone operator training,” Dr. Allison Ferguson, PrecisionHawk director of airspace research said. “Technology must be integrated to identify cooperative and non-cooperative aircraft, pilots must be aware of existing airspace classes, temporary flight restrictions, and no-fly zones, and pilots must receive BVLOS-specific training to ensure a safety ecosystem around BVLOS drone flight.”

The FAA demands stringent safety standards of BVLOS drone users – of the 1,200 BVLOS waivers requested, the agency has denied around 99 percent of them. Chasen said the report’s best practices will help applicants better understand how to meet FAA standards.

Chasen added:

“PrecisionHawk has spent the past three years conducting BVLOS safety research to demonstrate a corporate commitment to research activities that support the data-driven growth of safe unmanned air systems operations. We believe that the ability to fly drones BVLOS represents the next big opportunity for commercial drone operators across such industries as energy, agriculture, insurance, construction and government, and with the proper assistive technology, training and hardware, BVLOS operations can be conducted safely.”