ort
07-11-2011, 05:05 AM
#1
Thread Starter
ort
I live just north of Fort Sill, Oklahoma and about 80 miles SW of Clinton-Sherman Airport. The following article was in the Lawton Newspaper and has me really worried. My model plane field is just West of Apache, Oklahoma and could be affected by this information. What do you think?
Drones may soon fly from Lawton to Clinton
Groundwork is being done to establish an "air corridor" that would allow for flights of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) between Lawton-Fort Sill and the Clinton-Sherman Airport in Clinton.
If the corridor becomes a reality, it would be the only one in the United States in which UAVs would be allowed to routinely fly at higher altitudes without special permission through airspace controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration. It also would represent an important next step in Oklahoma's quest to become a key player in the rapidly expanding industry of UAVs and unmanned aerial systems.
Stephen McKeever is Oklahoma's secretary of science and technology and also the executive director of the Oklahoma State University Multispectral Laboratory (UML), the organization that worked with the Defense Department in 2006 to locate a UAV-dedicated airport in Lawton-Fort Sill. In emailed responses to questions posed by The Lawton Constitution, he described an industry poised for "exponential growth" with great potential to attract investment and jobs.
"I think Lawton citizens can expect to see new UAV-related companies establishing a presence in Oklahoma in general and in the Lawton area in particular as our facilities become more widely known and as the UAV industry grows," McKeever said.
Locating the Oklahoma Training Center for Unmanned Systems west of Lawton and adjacent to Fort Sill made perfect sense because airspace over Fort Sill isn't subject to the same FAA rules governing UAV flights in civil airspace. The UML has an agreement with the Army to use some of Fort Sill's airspace to fly UAVs virtually at any time to a height of up to 40,000 feet.
The Lawton-Fort Sill facility has seen increasing activity in the five years since it was established. Now, the FAA has been asked to issue a certificate of authorization allowing for flights of a UAV called a TigerShark in and out of Clinton-Sherman. If that's granted, McKeever said a second certificate would be applied for to allow for flights of TigerSharks between Clinton-Sherman and Lawton-Fort Sill. If both certificates are issued, a process likely to take months, he said TigerSharks would then be put to work in the air corridor testing electronic instrument landing systems.
Drones may soon fly from Lawton to Clinton
Groundwork is being done to establish an "air corridor" that would allow for flights of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) between Lawton-Fort Sill and the Clinton-Sherman Airport in Clinton.
If the corridor becomes a reality, it would be the only one in the United States in which UAVs would be allowed to routinely fly at higher altitudes without special permission through airspace controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration. It also would represent an important next step in Oklahoma's quest to become a key player in the rapidly expanding industry of UAVs and unmanned aerial systems.
Stephen McKeever is Oklahoma's secretary of science and technology and also the executive director of the Oklahoma State University Multispectral Laboratory (UML), the organization that worked with the Defense Department in 2006 to locate a UAV-dedicated airport in Lawton-Fort Sill. In emailed responses to questions posed by The Lawton Constitution, he described an industry poised for "exponential growth" with great potential to attract investment and jobs.
"I think Lawton citizens can expect to see new UAV-related companies establishing a presence in Oklahoma in general and in the Lawton area in particular as our facilities become more widely known and as the UAV industry grows," McKeever said.
Locating the Oklahoma Training Center for Unmanned Systems west of Lawton and adjacent to Fort Sill made perfect sense because airspace over Fort Sill isn't subject to the same FAA rules governing UAV flights in civil airspace. The UML has an agreement with the Army to use some of Fort Sill's airspace to fly UAVs virtually at any time to a height of up to 40,000 feet.
The Lawton-Fort Sill facility has seen increasing activity in the five years since it was established. Now, the FAA has been asked to issue a certificate of authorization allowing for flights of a UAV called a TigerShark in and out of Clinton-Sherman. If that's granted, McKeever said a second certificate would be applied for to allow for flights of TigerSharks between Clinton-Sherman and Lawton-Fort Sill. If both certificates are issued, a process likely to take months, he said TigerSharks would then be put to work in the air corridor testing electronic instrument landing systems.
07-11-2011, 05:29 AM
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RE: ort
"routinely fly at higher altitudes without special permission through airspace controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration. "
I suppose they will be well higher than your modeling activity unless you fly sailplanes. I used to fly at Altus and the winds usually prevented any decent thermaling.
Goodluck
Ray W.
I suppose they will be well higher than your modeling activity unless you fly sailplanes. I used to fly at Altus and the winds usually prevented any decent thermaling.
Goodluck
Ray W.
07-11-2011, 05:49 AM
#3
Thread Starter
RE: ort
Thanks....that makes me feel a whole lot better. I am the only one that uses the flying field West of Apache, but it is my hobby and I fly whenever I get a chance.
07-11-2011, 09:06 AM
#4
RE: ort
John,
I live down here in Lawton and I'm the President of the local flying club. I read the same article that you did this weekend, but I wouldn't worry too much about it affecting your flying much. When the UAV field was put in several years ago we were in very good communication with the owners of that operation and at that time we were having the same concerns you are having now, that it would affect our flying. After 4 years of their operation there have been absolutely zero conflicts between their operation and ours. So I wouldn't worry too much about this new operation affecting you. Unless you live right next to the airport in Clinton where they will be landing I doubt you will have any problems at all. The UAV on this end is actually located just north of Indiahoma.
I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you have other concerns please feel free to PM me and I'll do what I can. We have direct contact with the operators of the UAV operation, so we can get you in touch with them if need be so you could discuss it with them. Several of the people that run the UAV airport are also RC pilots, so they are very concerned with making sure that we can still fly alongside their operation.
Ken
