An update on the aeronautical knowledge test for recreational drone pilots, UPS plans for medical deliveries, a drone field technician college degree, a waiver for drone flights over people, opinions on drone strikes on airliners, environmental BVLOS missions, and a message from the FAA on drones and dangerous weapons.
The FAA wants to outsource the administration of the aeronautical knowledge test for recreational drone pilots mandated by Section 349 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. The agency has posted a request for information and seeks responses from commercial, non-profit, or academic entities that would serve as test designees. The FAA said it won’t pay test designees and is “agnostic as to the business model” they choose to administer the test. Replies are due by September 12, 2019.
Since March 2019, UPS Flight Forward and partner Matternet have been transporting blood and medical samples by drone for WakeMed hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina. Now UPS wants to expand this service to other areas in the U.S.
Atlantic Cape Community College in New Jersey is offering an associate degree in applied science with a concentration in sUAS (Drones) Field Technician. The college says “Upon successful completion of the program students will demonstrate basic proficiency in the area of small UAS operations, general maintenance and repair, the use of a small UAS for the collection of and pre and post-processing of aerial images and videos, and geospatial data collection.”
Flytrex has received a waiver from the FAA to fly over people, specifically over a highway in Holly Springs, North Carolina as part of a three-year test project. Flytrex wants to deliver food over a single route from a shopping center with 15 restaurants to customers at a nearby public park and sports complex.
NUAIR (the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research alliance) tested the Flytrex drone (a DJI Matrice 600 Pro) and parachute (from Drone Rescue Systems of Austria) in a series of 45 different failure tests at Griffiss International Airport.
