On October 29th, 2024, NASA hosted a meeting with public small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) operators at
NASA Ames Research Center. The purpose of the event was to engage with sUAS operators who currently use drones to perform public missions. The meeting included members from NASA Ames Research Center’s
Aviation System Division and Human Systems Integration Division, the
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and several local first responders from the Contra Costa, Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
Since public and commercial drone operations are both on the rise in low altitude airspace (from 0’ - 400’ above ground level), NASA emphasized that commercial operations should not be allowed to block public missions, and that priority access to the airspace should be granted when drones are deployed in emergency and life-saving situations. In addition, the
Airspace Operations Laboratory supported an interactive demonstration in which visitors explored UAS traffic management concepts through simulated scenarios.
The
UTM BVLOS subproject will continue to build connections with public sUAS operators across the country to ensure vital needs are well understood and fed into regulatory and standards organizations.
