[Maryland] State vies to be FAA drone test site

[alp227]

Despite concerns about privacy and public safety, Maryland is seeking to open its skies to commercial drones under a federal program that could make the state a powerhouse in the burgeoning unmanned aircraft industry.

Maryland is among 24 states vying to be one of six sites the Federal Aviation Administration will use to test how to integrate the remotely piloted aircraft into U.S. airspace. With thousands of jobs at stake, the competition has been fierce and expensive.

While Congress has debated the use of covert military drone strikes in the Middle East, the proliferation of unarmed drones in U.S. airspace has received less attention. The FAA has issued more than 1,400 permits for drones since 2007, mainly to police departments and civilian federal agencies.

The agency estimates that the number of small commercial drones will grow to 7,500 within five years.

full: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-md-faa-drones-20130911,0,5431377,full.story

[OregonBlue]

1. Oregon too.

http://www.opb.org/news/article/drone-industry-prepares-for-takeoff-in-oregon/



Oregon could soon become a launch pad for a drone industry expansion that produces thousands of new jobs over the next decade.

Drones are mostly used by the military, but manufacturers are ready to make them for other uses like crop spraying and forest fire search and rescue. The only problem is that they have few places to test new products — the five drone companies based in Oregon use the Boardman Bombing Range or Edwards Air Force Base near Los Angeles.

If the Federal Aviation Administration approves Oregon’s application to be a drone test site, manufacturers could also fly out of the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton, Port of Tillamook and Warm Springs.

“The objective of the FAA is to integrate unmanned aerial systems into the national airspace — it means they (eventually) fly anywhere,” said Erik Simpkins, lead researcher for the test site application. “Our objective is to learn how to fly safely and avoid other unmanned systems and unpiloted systems by flying in rural areas.”