Commercial UAV Expo visit

The flying demo –

Of course, we witnessed a few flights, and seeing some domestic offerings still in the mix was
encouraging.

New leadership at the UASIO –

I also had the chance to introduce myself to Jeffry Vincent, the new head of the UASIO. He’s got
his work cut out for him. However, my first impression is that he is at least willing to listen, and
that is a good start. Remember, I started interfacing with the FAA before the inception of the
first iteration of the Unmanned Aircraft Program Office.

DST or the Drone Safety Team –

I am cautiously optimistic about this effort or any airspace integration committee, even if they
are Blue-Ribbon efforts. After 20-plus years, I have seen numerous efforts with lofty goals and
superlative titles come to naught. Oh, but this one is going to be different because it has a
bunch of unqualified people with little in the way of public policy, aviation experience, and or
financial backing from the People’s Republic of China. More likely than not, some of the more
significant interests will use it to pitch their IT solutions for UTM after a few years of being at
the tiller of the waka of excellence. I’ve gotten so good at this that I can tell where we are on
the altruism scale in about 30 seconds. #nobueno

I sat in on the Future of BVLOS Operations panel –

The punchline is that the Commercial Drone Alliance and members Amazon and Google will
work together to open the NAS for the benefit of the American people. So, are we to assume
that two of the world’s largest companies have you in mind with this endeavor?

Closing thoughts –

Wednesday morning thoughts while in line behind an FAA employee at the café. It occurred to
me to overlay the FAA process onto something ordinary like ordering coffee. So, after quickly
calculating the variables, including a fault tree, a zero tolerance safety risk analysis, some
historical conjecture, and irrelevant data sets, including fatal heat injuries from explosions,
yielded enough “data” to conjure up a quick back-of-the-napkin calculation. I figure that poor
bastard would still be waiting in line for a waiver when we return to CUAV Expo 2025.
Continuing education –

I have been talking to domestic manufacturers to glean a nonbiased assessment of the Blue and
Green UAS initiatives. To avoid confusion, I consider any effort initiated by the AUVSI as
dubious until proven otherwise. Those people are always looking to soak the membership first.

Thanks –

I want to say a big thank you to everyone who stops me in public to say hello. Many encourage
and enjoy the punditry, highlighting the dysfunction in the industry and airspace integration
effort. The same goes for the sUAS News hangout. Folks in the trenches think and feel the same
about the topics discussed by the esteemed panel.