Overview of the US UAS Executive Committee, its progress at integrating government owned UAS in the US airspace, and committee plan

Bauer, Jeffrey E.

NASA Technical Reports Server

United States Unmanned Aircraft 
System Executive Committee: 
3/29/2012 
Progress and Activities 
Presented on behalf of the 
UAS ExCom Senior Steering Group 
by 
Jeffrey Bauer 
NASA 
1 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20120011784 2019-08-30T21:08:15+00:00Z
• What is the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Executive 
Committee (ExCom) 
• What has it accomplished 
• What are its current activities 
• What can be expected in the future 
• Conclusion 
3/29/2012 2 
• Purpose 
- Enable routine, safe operation of Federal 
Gov't unmanned aircraft in US civil 
. 
airspace 
• Composition 
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 
- Department of Defense (DOD) 
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 
- National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA) 
• Staffed at the senior executive level 
• First meeting occurred Oct 2009 
3/29/201.' 
UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS 
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
CHARTER 
• Coordinate and align efforts among key Federal Government 
agencies (FAA, DOD, DHS, and NASA) to ultimately achieve 
routine safe federal public UAS operations in the NAS. 
• Coordinate and prioritize technicat procedurat regulatory, and 
policy solutions needed to deliver incremental capabilities. 
• Develop a plan to accommodate the larger stakeholder 
community, at the appropriate time. 
• Resolve conflicts among Federal Government agencies (FAA, 
DOD, DHS, and NASA) related to the above goals. 
3/29/2012 4 
• Initial focus was on "early victories" which led to work on 
process improvements 
- UAS flight approval process (Certificate Of Authorization or 
Waiver (COA)) 
- Safety and operational data sharing 
- Transitioning from Class D airspace over military 
installations to adjacent special use airspace 
• Latter focus turned to more challenging airspace issues 
- Multiple manned and unmanned operations in class D 
. 
airspace 
3/29/2012 5 
3/29/201.' 
An early requirement from Congress was to deliver a 
NAS Access Plan 
• Cooperatively develop UAS NAS Access plan 
-as required by Congress 
• Examine the range of technical, regulatory, 
and legal issues 
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• Phase I - Complete 
• Examine process, policy, and operational 
procedure changes 
• Phase I - 14 Process Issues Identified 
• Phase II - 11 Policy & Operations Issues 
Identified 
Process improvements resulted in dramatic reduction in time and 
resources to obtain flight approval 
• Significant improvement in common understanding of COA language 
and requirements resulted 
• This has allowed the agencies to improve their quality control systems 
• Process approval timeline reduced from 180 days to 60 days 
• Phase II - In Work 
3/29/2012 8 
• Safety Data Sharing 
- DOD transferred 6 years of mishap data to FAA on 22 
September 2012 
• COA Expiration Extension 
- FAA internal guidance change in process to extend COAls 
from 12 to 24 months 
• Transitioning from Class D airspace over military installations 
to adjacent special use airspace 
- Clarification issued to eliminate the need to file a COA for 
transition to SUA from Class D 
3/29/2012 9 
• Multiple manned and unmanned operations in class D 
. 
airspace 
- Risks identified 
- Mitigations proposed that would allow routine operations 
- Validation plan for mitigations is in development 
3/29/2012 10 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Validate Recommendations for Multiple Manned & Unmanned operations in Class D airspace 
- Demonstration & Documentation plan being developed 
- Expect completion this year 
Small UAS (less than 55 pounds/25 kg) Operations in Class G Airspace 
- Expected to deliver operating procedures to enable day & night small UAS operations at 
specific locations 
Access to (Flight Information regions) FIRs and Remote Areas Recommend ways to align 
approval process and operational restrictions 
Process Improvements 
- Update internal FAA guidance on COA and special airworthiness certification processing 
- Ensure consistent UAS Incident/Accident Definitions for data collection and reporting 
Continue to respond to Congressional direction when given 
- Status Report on integration progress 
- FAA to establish 6 UAS test sites 
Continue to monitor COA process time lines and take action as required 
3/29/2012 11 
• Validate and implement recommendations regarding 
- Small UAS operations in class G airspace 
- UAS operations in US managed flight information regions 
and remote areas 
• Continue to monitor CGA processing time line and identify 
process improvements 
• Beyond the UAS ExCom 
- Extending the progress to other government UAS 
operations 
- Transitioning benefits to civil/commercial/NextGen 
community 
3/29/2012 12 
• The UAS ExCom provides a senior executive level forum to address 
government UAS airspace integration challenges 
• Progress to date has resulted in increased access and operational 
improvements 
• The ExCom organizations are moving forward to achieve both near-
and far-term objectives for UAS NAS integration 
3/29/2012 13 


United States Unmanned Aircraft System Executive Committee: Progress and Activities

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