Lesson 5 Introduction

Welcome to Lesson 5! In this lesson, you will become familiar with all aspects of operating a UAS, starting with the obstacles in the face of the UAS and its operations and moving to subjects like guidelines to UAS operations, definition of airspace, launch and recovery, line of sight (LOS) operation, beyond line of sight (BLOS) operation, and personnel qualifications. All the topics mentioned above are crucial to any individual involved in operating a UAS, especially here in the United States. I would like to emphasize the topic of understanding the national airspace (NAS) and the rules surrounding the operation of an aircraft in each of its classes. In this lesson, you will be asked to express your opinion on the newly released FAA roadmap for integrating the UAS in the NAS.

Lesson Objectives

At the successful completion of this lesson, you should be able to:

• understand guidelines for operating a UAS;
• describe the different classes of airspace;
• understand the different modes of operating a UAS (LOS versus BLOS);
• describe the UAS personnel qualifications.

Lesson Readings

• Section 5.1 of textbook 1: Barnhart, et al., Introduction to Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
• TRB2013 Paper presentation slides: "Addressing the Operational and Technical UAS Airspace Integration Challenges".
• Review PART 107 “Operation and Certification of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems”.
• Review more details on the test site program.
• Review the FAA document about the test sites program and the FAA page on it.
• Review the TRB 2013 presentation "Unmanned Aircraft System Policy and Regulatory Environment".
• Read the article "What You Need to Know to Legally Operate Your Drone Under New FAA Regulation".
• Read sections 5.3, 5.6, and 5.7 of chapter 5 in textbook 1: Barnhart, et al., Introduction to Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
• Review materials on the High Adventure website.
• Review section 3 of the materials on the Federation of American Scientists website.
• Review section 16 of the document “Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Operational Approval” .

Lesson Activities

• Watch the hearing in the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on "Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Innovation, Integration, Successes, and Challenges”.
• Complete the Lesson 5 Quiz.
• Participate in the FAA Roadmap Discussion Forum.
• Submit your final project idea/proposal in the Final Project Proposal drop box.
• Submit your "CONOP and Risk Assessment" assignment report.