AMA IN ACTION Advocating for Members

Given today’s technology, what’s so amazing? This UAS navigates without the use of GPS! As reported in AVweb, by Mary Grady, Contributing editor… A research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has designed an autonomous airplane that is able to follow an internal map through a parking garage and […]

Monday, August 13th… As reported on the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) webpage… “Over the past several years, the development of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) have been occurring at an extremely fast pace. Recently, this technology has been identified as a potentially important tool for public safety. […]

In a report written by Joe Wolverton, II the New American chronicles the approach of the day when squadrons of drones will fill the skies of the United States. Scores of these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV/UAS) will be deployed by state and local law enforcement, adding to the many already […]

At a recent Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) Air Safety Forum in Washington, D.C., Richard Prosek, manager of flight technologies and procedures in FAA’s UAS Integration Office, offered airline pilots assurances that air vehicles piloted from the ground will be introduced safely and incrementally to the U.S. national airspace system […]

Las Vegas… On August 7th, FAA Acting Administrator Michael Huerta was the keynote speaker at the opening session of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) 2012 North America Conference. During his remarks Mr. Huerta assured the AUVSI membership that the FAA will meet its goal to “safely and […]

With the exception of a bit of dramatic license, National Public Radio’s recent report on the emergence of domestic “drones” (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) does a good job of putting this issue in perspective. The report describes some of the benefits of this new technology as well as the public perception […]

As the FAA struggles in its efforts to enable the operation of commercial and public use unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), anxiety over privacy and national security issues continues to escalate. Over the past several months more than a dozen congressional initiatives have been enacted to address these issues and further […]

I suppose it was only a matter of time… In the wake of growing public concern over privacy issues, state lawmakers are now considering new laws to regulate the use of unmanned aircraft systems (Drones) within their state. Republican Del. Todd Gilbert, one of Virginia’s most conservative lawmakers, is working with […]

Central Maine’s Morning Sentinel reports that Rezwan Ferdaus has struck a plea agreement with prosecutors. According to court documents filed by prosecutors and attorneys for Ferdaus, the Massachusetts man charged with plotting to fly remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol plans to plead guilty […]

A recent poll reported by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) regarding the government use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, i.e. Drones, shows significant public concern over privacy issues and potential misuse by law enforcement. However, the poll also shows strong support for what is viewed as legitimate uses […]