A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/624148
· Hobbyist Notification Requirement o Over the past few months, James Keith (NATCA Article 48 Rep - AJV7) and Mr. Weidner have been participating in work group activities regarding the UAS notification requirem ent in Sectio n 336 of the current FAA bill. The Section 336 language is below. o Many of these discussions have been about longer term solutions to satisfy the notification requirement. So to satisfy this requirement in the short term, the agency distribut ed a checklist and a guidance memo to the field facilities. NATCA has requested an Article 7 briefing on this guidance. o Notice in the Section 336 language that hobbyists are NOT required to ask for permission to operate within 5 miles of the airport, b ut to simply notify the tower. However, the memo does advise ATC that they can deny the operation if the proposed operation will po se a threat to manned traffic. Otherwise, the tower is simply supposed to advise the caller that they have met their requiremen t to notify. · SEC. 336. SPECIAL RULE FOR MODEL AIRCRAFT o In General, n otwithstanding any other provision of law relating to the incorporation of unmanned aircraft systems into Federal Aviation Administration plans and policies, including this subtit le, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft, or an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft, if , when flown within 5 miles of an airport, the operator of the aircraft provides the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower (when an air traffic facility is located at the airport) with prior notice of the operation (model aircraft operators flying from a permanent location within 5 miles of an airport sho uld establish a mutually - agreed upon operating procedure with the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower (when an air traffic facility is located at the airport)). · National Global Hawk Certificate of Authorization (COA) o The age ncy is working to replace the current national Global Haw k COA with an updated version. Mr. Weidner has been working with the affected facilities to ensure that NATCA's concerns are addressed in this effort. There are significant concerns with the Global H awk platform surrounding lost lin k notification and procedures. A procedure needs to be developed that will notify controllers of a lost link in a timely manner, and then give controllers time to respond, prior to the Global Hawk exe cuting its lost link ma neuver. · Air National Guard (ANG) UAS Operations at Syracuse (SYR) and Fargo (FAR) o The NY ANG currently flies th eir UAS remotely from Ft. Drum and they would like to move their operations fro m Ft. Drum to the SYR airport. A few weeks ago, they took an other step toward that effort. The ANG flew a UAS into SYR and then a few days later, held a press event and flew the UAS in the pattern for about 15 minutes. o A permanent move to SYR will be the first sustained UAS operations from a civilian, FAA cont rolled airport in the country. The North Dakota ANG is proposing to make a similar move later this year, moving their UAS oper ation from Grand Forks to FAR. The SYR and