Beyond Bayonets and Battleships - Drones Now Rule Airspace

[thorfourwinds]

(courtesy: The Verge)

Here Are the 61 Organizations With Permission To Fly Drones

The FAA has released a list of all the organizations in the U.S. that are allowed to fly drones. There's 61 of them, and while it includes the players you'd expect, there are also a lot of random ones that somehow made it.

While agencies like Customs and Border Protection and DARPA are on the list, so are several colleges, a dozen police and sheriff's offices, and the FBI.

The list has been made public as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed in January.

And it's not even the full rundown.

Anything that flies above 400 feet must have a Certificate of Authorization (COA) from the FAA.

There are around 300 COAs currently active, though between 600-750 have been approved since 2006.
Sure, you expect the Air Force to be flying drones, but what about Middle Tennessee State University?
Or the City of Herington, Kansas?

See the full list and each group's COA status below.



U.S. Air Force - Active
Arlington Police Department - Active
U.S. Army - Active
CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) - Expired
City of Herington, Kansas - Active
City of Houston, TX Police Department - Expired
City of North Little Rock, AR Police Department - Active
Cornell University - Expired
DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) - Active
DHS (Department of Homeland Security) / CBP (Customs and Border Protection) - Active
DHS (Department of Homeland Security) / Science and Technology - Active
DOE (Department of Energy) - Idaho National Laboratory - Active
DOE (Department of Energy) - National Energy Technology Laboratory - Expired

Same old, same old gubment at work. 
Department of Agriculture - US Forest Service - Disapproved
Department of Agriculture - US Forest Service - Expired

Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service Disapproved
Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service - Active


Department of the Interior - National Business Center/Aviation Management Directorate (NBC/AMD) - Active
DOJ (Department of Justice) - Queen Anne's County Office of the Sheriff - Expired
Eastern Gateway Community College - Active
FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) - Active
Gadsden Police Department - Active

Same old, same old gubment at work. 
Georgia Tech Police Department, Office of Emergency Preparedness - Disapproved

Georgia Tech Research Institute - Active
Hays County Emergency Service Office - Expired
Kansas State University - Active
Mesa County Sheriff's Office - Active
Miami-Dade Police Department - Active
Middle Tennessee State University - Active
Mississippi Department of Marine Resources - Active
Mississippi State University - Active?Montgomery County Sheriff's Office - Expired
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) - Active

S. Navy - Active   Huh?  Space Navy, eh, Zorgon?

New Mexico Tech - Active
New Mexico State University Physical Sciences Laboratory (NMSU-PSL) - Active
Nicholls State University - Expired
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) - Expired
Ogden Police Department - Active
Ohio University - Active
Orange County Sheriff's Office - Active
Otter Tail County - Disapproved
Polk County Sheriff's Office - Active
Seattle Police Department - Active
Texas A&M University Corpus Christi - Active
Texas A&M University - TEES (Texas Engineering Experiment Station) - Active
Texas Department of Public Safety - Expired
Texas State University - Active
University of Alaska Fairbanks - Active
University of Arizona - Expired
University of Colorado - Active
University of Connecticut - Active
University of Florida - Active
University of Michigan - Expired
University of North Dakota - Active
University of Wisconsin - Expired
USMC (United States Marine Corps) - Active
Utah State University - Active
Virginia Commonwealth University - Expired
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - Active
Washington State Department of Transportation - Expired

Question: Does anyone really think that the drones are not still flying that have 'Expired' COA's?

Actually, the real question might be"

Are illegally flying drones available for legal target practice?   

[thorfourwinds]

WSU students developing hydrogen-powered drone


PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) -- Engineering students at Washington State University are developing a drone that would be fueled by liquid hydrogen.

The university says students have tested a 55-pound drone with a 19-foot carbon-fiber wing that can carry 15 pounds. They used battery power in two test flights and plan to move to a hydrogen fuel cell and then liquid hydrogen. 

The university says hydrogen-powered craft are more environmentally-friendly than those powered by fossil fuels since the only waste product is water.

An unmanned hydrogen-powered drone could fly for days at high altitude and return to earth to be re-used.

It could be used to monitor the weather, survey crops or provide military surveillance. more

[Ellirium113]

Are illegally flying drones available for legal target practice?

Hmmm...I see a new proffession should soon emerge... The BLADE RUNNER. 

Blade Runner is a 1982 American dystopian science fiction action film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in November 2019 in which genetically engineered organic robots called replicants—visually indistinguishable from adult humans—are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation as well as by other "mega–manufacturers" around the world. Their use on Earth is banned and replicants are exclusively used for dangerous, menial or leisure work on off-world colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and "retired" by police special operatives known as "Blade Runners".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner

[zorgon]

Are illegally flying drones available for legal target practice?   

Seems so ... yes...

It seems that the POLICE do not like drones spying on THEM

[zorgon]

Riots in Turkey; Riots in Brazil...

..anyone covering these yet?

[thorfourwinds]

Ha ha... they got you again!   

[zorgon]

Uh oh!  USER TERMINATED 

[The Matrix Traveller]

Just a thought..... When are we going to see UFO like drones...