FAA misses drone deadline

With the FAA under pressure to allow unmanned aerial vehicles in the national airspace, an advocacy group is complaining that the agency is behind schedule. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International wrote to the FAA that legislation passed earlier this year set a deadline of Aug. 12 to designate six test ranges where certification standards could be developed, but the deadline has passed. In May the FAA said it was making progress in its site selection process and expects to name the sites in December. (Source: AVWeb, 08/22/12) Gulf Coast note: The region is heavily involved in UAVs, including production and training, and efforts are under way to build an indoor unmanned systems center near Eglin Air Force Base. Previous: Test site selection starts; Drones in national airspace?; UAVs become college majors; Global Hawk gets airworthiness certificate