FLYING WELL WITH OTHERS.

To carry out quick-reaction civil missions like wildfire spotting, UAVs must be part of the FAA system. UAV operators have long dreamed of flying in civil airspace like piloted aircraft, but the challenge is to prove equivalent safety without incurring prohibitive cost. The attempt to achieve that goal of an FAA-certified unmanned air vehicle, pilot and overall system is now underway via the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration-industry "Access 5" project, with the first of four steps to be implemented by September 2006. Unite approached NASA in August 2002 because it was running the Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology drone program, and the two signed a joint sponsored research agreement. To get to and from 40,000 ft, the aircraft can climb through military restricted airspace or use a COA that allows it into civil airspace, and these operations can be more complex than simply file-and-fly. Looking for cheap technical solutions, NASA Dryden conducted tests last year with an inexpensive airborne radar and a traffic advisory system to see if they locate other aircraft (AW& ST Sept. 15, 2003, p. 88).