AUVSI creates the Trusted Operator Program (TOP) for professional certification, Aurora Flight Sciences builts the Odysseus HALE aircraft, fast food delivery service generates some complaints, the DRL announces the Alpha Pilot Challenge for autonomous drone racers, the Office of Aviation Services wants information about using drones to fight wildfires, and the Office of the Inspector General conducted an audit of the FAA’s UAS waiver process.
AUVSI worked with industry experts to create the Trusted Operator Program™ (TOP) for professional certification. AUVSI says the program was created “to raise the trust and acceptance of the use of unmanned aircraft around the world. TOP is a professional unmanned systems community initiative aimed at supporting industry accepted remote pilot standards and protocols, which will result in the safe and sustainable advancement of the industry.”
The program features three certification levels where each corresponds to the level of safety precautions required. Level one covers relatively low-risk operations for flights under Part 107. Level two is for companies that conduct flights near expensive infrastructure requiring an FAA waiver. Level three addresses flights in “safety critical” environments, such as near chemical, oil, gas, nuclear or mining facilities, even if they are offshore and no waiver is required.
TOP training providers:
TOP Certification bodies:
TOP uses a set of safety protocols and includes aviation regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration, Civil Aviation Safety Authorities, Directorates General of Civil Aviation and others.
Aurora Flight Sciences built the 243-foot span Odysseus, a high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) aircraft. Odysseus uses lithium-polymer batteries and Alta Devices thin-film gallium-arsenide solar cells. Flight testing is scheduled to begin in 2019 in Puerto Rico. The first aircraft is battery-powered and the second and third aircraft will be solar-powered.
Odysseus uses thin-walled carbon-fiber tubes bonded together into box-section trusses for the wing spar and fuselages, and truss ribs for...
