Drone Advisory Committee kicks off

Committee members represent diverse interests, but a strong consensus that safety is a top priority emerged at the first meeting.

“We want to see the unmanned aircraft industry continue to grow and innovate, but we also recognize that the safety of those in the air and on the ground must be protected,” AOPA President Mark Baker said  following the meeting. “This group is a way to ensure that stakeholders with a broad range of perspectives can work together to achieve those goals, and we’re pleased to see universal agreement that safety must be the guiding principle for integrating drones into our airspace.”

In addition to AOPA, the committee includes representatives from Facebook, Google X, UPS, AT&T, city and county governments, airports, CNN, Stanford University, MIT, unmanned aircraft user groups and manufacturers, airlines, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Lockheed Martin, and others. More than 300 groups and individuals applied for seats on the panel.

AOPA has played a significant role in drone-related issues, serving on the small UAS Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) from the time it was chartered in 2008. AOPA also has served on the FAA’s UAS Registration Task Force ARC and the Micro UAS ARC.

The next meeting of the Drone Advisory Committee is tentatively scheduled for January 2017. Among the issues the group expects to continue to tackle are enabling beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) and autonomous UAS operations, and preemption and privacy concerns.