A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/823383
There is currently a re quest in the field for five SME s ( two en route, two terminal, and one oce anic) who have UAS experience. These SME s will be part of a workgroup that will formulate recommendations to the FAA on standardized UAS lost link procedures. We expect this work group to meet periodically for the next 2 - 3 years as we work through this task. UAS FACILITY MAPS In an effort to improve the quality of Part 107 aut horization requests coming into the FAA, the agency is making public the UAS Facility Maps that each terminal f acility was asked to complete. The agency has found that absent any guidance on what altitudes may be authorized around airports, proponents are simply requesting 400' AGL for every flight - whether they need it or not. This is leading to a high rate of disapprovals and greatly increased coordination tim e with the affected facilities. With the maps publicly available, it is believed that the pr oponents will become more precise with their authorization requests. The firs t batch of maps - which includes all Class E surface areas - was made public on April 27th. The agency will publish new maps, along with any map updates on the normal 56 - day cha rt update dates. All maps are expected to b e released by the end of 2017. The maps can be viewed by clicking here . DRONE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (DAC) The Drone Advisory Committee (DAC) met on May 3rd at the Airline Pilots Association headquarters in Herdon, V a. NATCA was a co - host for this meeting and sponsored the DAC dinner on the evening of May 2nd. NATCA's Executive Vice - President, Trish Gil bert, is a member of the DAC. Mr. Weidner, Mr. Richards , and NATCA's Deputy Director of Safety and Technology, Mark McKelligan, supp ort Tri sh with DAC activities. Mr. Richards is a member of the DAC sub - committee. Mr. Weidner and Mr. Richards are also pa rticipating in two of the DAC's Tasking Groups (TG). Mr. Richards is representing NATCA on TG2 - Access to Airspace. This TG will come up with recommendations to the FAA on how the UAS industry can gain additional access to airspace, further enabling int egration. Mr. Weidner is representing NATCA on TG3 - UAS Finance. The purpose of TG3 is to make recommendations on how the UAS industry can fi nancially support integration. LOW ALTITUDE AUTHORIZATION AND NOTIFICATION CAPABILITY (LAANC) The Agency is c ontinuing to move toward deployment of is Low Altitude Authorization and No tification Capability (LAANC). LAANC will automate the UAS authorization (for Part 107) and notification (Part 101/Hobbyist) process. The Agency is working with several industry p artners who will provide this service to the various UAS proponents. The Agency will provide UAS facility map data to the industry partners. The partners will, in turn, develop tools that will provide authorization and notification services to the propon ents, on a real - time basis, based on the UAS facility map data. The authorizations and notifications will be instantly transmitted back to the facility for which the author ization/notification was made. The agency will be deploying the LAANC tool in 5 - 10 facilities (yet to be det ermined) by the end of CY2017. Providing all goes well at the initial sites, the LAANC tool will be deployed in facilities across the NAS throughout CY2018. Mr. Weidner and Mr. Richards are working closely with the Agency on t his project.