FAA DRONE TECH

Sky Scape & Raptor Maps Tour FAA Facility

Following last week’s OEM Drone Initiative event held by the Delaware River and Bay Authority (DRBA) at the Cape May - Lewes Ferry Terminal, Sky Scape’s President, Nathan Ernst, and Raptor Maps Chief Technology Officer, Eddie Obropta, toured the FAA Technical Center at the Atlantic City International Airport (ACY). On Tuesday, April 26th, Ernst and Obropta not only took a tour of the facility, but received, first hand, insights into the many research initiatives the FAA is pursuing to integrate Unmanned Aerial Systems in to our commercial airspace.

The FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center (Technical Center) is one of the nation's premier aviation research, development, test and evaluation facilities. Its world-class laboratories and top-notch engineering place the Technical Center at the forefront of the FAA's challenge to modernize the U.S. air transportation system. The Technical Center serves as the FAA’s national scientific test base for research and development in air traffic control, communications, navigation, airports, aircraft safety, and security. Among the many labs and departments throughout the facility, the technical center is solely responsible for testing UAS policies against real-world situations to make sure the proposed policies are appropriate.

The tour of the center was given to Ernst and Obropta by an FAA Test Pilot and a lead engineer heading the sUAS integration initiative. “It’s our job to test UAS technology in every possible situation imaginable, communicate with such systems, and figure out the safest means of operating drones in commercial air space”.

Sky Scape Industries and Raptor Maps are both pioneers in the private sector of sUAS and hold authorizations for drone use for commercial operations. Sky Scape focuses it’s efforts on providing services in construction and