[Scan-DC] Virginia Tech To Host A Drone-Testing Site

[Bruce Harper]

On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 2:59 PM, Blair wrote:

> Today, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that it has selected
> six public sites to research and test the development of unmanned aircraft
> systems, commonly known as drones.
>
> Among the six sites is Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
> in Blacksburg, Va., where the FAA will "conduct UAS failure mode testing
> and identify and evaluate operational and technical risks areas," a release
> states.
>

​It will be interesting to see how this develops. There are folks in the
College of Agriculture who have already been using drones in research areas
-- checking for things in the air at different altitudes for microbes that
could cause plant diseases and checking out crop fields. There is an
airstrip and facilities about 10 miles from campus where the research and
testing (along with other departments) is already taking place. But other
parts of the state may see some flights, such as the Naval Surface Warfare
Center in Dahlgren, NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility and Fort Pickett
in Blackstone, where there is already restricted airspace. There is also a
partnership with Rutgers, so there may also be flights in New Jersey.

See
http://www.roanoke.com/news/article_ce2d7948-7178-11e3-bbad-0019bb30f31a.htmlfor
the Roanoke Times story and
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2013/12/123013-research-faa.html for the
Virginia Tech response.

Bruce in Blacksburg
​