Fire Scout flights to resume soon

Flights of the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter the Navy is testing to operate from its warships will resume Sept. 20, the Navy announced late Thursday. The UAVs were grounded after operators lost control of one on Aug. 2 and it entered restricted airspace around Washington. This time they’ll be flying in Yuma, Ariz. The Navy had been flying Fire Scouts from a field near Naval Air Station Patuxent River in southern Maryland. Testing will resume there after engineers validate updated software for the aircraft. New software is scheduled to be installed early next month. (Source: Navy Times, 09/16/10) Gulf Coast note: Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.