Jay Merkle and Brian Wynne provide debrief following Episode I of FAA UAS Symposium - Remotely Piloted Edition

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Episode I of the 5th Annual FAA UAS Symposium - Remotely Piloted Edition is officially in the books.

Following two days of virtual sessions, roundtables, debates, and networking, Jay Merkle, head of the FAA UAS Integration Office, and Brian Wynne, president & CEO of AUVSI, provided a Post-Flight Debrief on Thursday, July 9, to reflect on what the community has accomplished thus far, and the work that still lays ahead.

A recurring theme of Merkle and Wynne’s discussion centered around the need for continued collaboration and respectful discourse to tackle the next challenges ahead. “It embodies the spirit of this community,” Merkle said. “We know there are tough conversations. We know this is a continued engagement...and these are people who have been engaged for many years, and they just keep coming back to make it better and better and better.”

Merkle also shared an insightful discussion that took place in one of the roundtable networking rooms, where attendees urged the FAA to go out and engage with the UAS community on a one-to-one basis. Wynne commented that the Symposium served as a great forum to address that need.

“It's very unique for a government agency to make so many of its people available to the general public.” Wynne said. “It really is, I think, an extraordinary effort on the part of the FAA to put this on.”

Merkle and Wynne noted that there has been a clear evolution in both the size of the community and tone of the discussions since the first FAA UAS Symposium in 2016. “Seeing the growth from that first Symposium to this Symposium and how we didn't even know how to talk to each other...and now we really do know how to talk to each other,” Merkle commented. “And it's not perfect; it's kind of like a family. Nothing ever goes exactly like you want, but you’re committed to making it work.”

U.S./Swiss partnership

During Episode I, several major announcements were made that will help push this technology and the industry as a whole forward. On the first day of the Symposium, the FAA and the Switzerland Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) announced that they had reached an agreement in harmonizing domestic and international safety standards for UAS.

The agreement builds on U.S and Swiss efforts to ensure that this fast growing, broad segment of aviation is integrated safely, efficiently and seamlessly around the world.

“UAS activities are now accepted worldwide as a vital sector of aviation,” Merkle said. “This U.S./Swiss agreement continues the move forward of the safe, efficient, and internationally harmonized integration of these vehicles into the world’s airspace.”

Other announcements made included an upcoming request for information (RFI) surrounding counter-UAS, the movement towards a UAS-based ASRS system, also known as third party safety reporting, and tactical beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) to support Public Safety operations.

It was also announced that this year’s National Drone Safety Awareness Week will take place from November 16 to 22, with a slight twist from Drone Safety Awareness Weeks of the past.

“The big shift that we’re very excited about is it’s not the FAA pushing it. It’s industry lifting it,” Merkle said.

International reach

The Symposium shifted to a fully virtual event due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While the event didn’t allow for in person dialogue that attendees have become accustomed to, it did allow for a unique experience unlike any other before.

“The counterintuitive thing that I’m getting from this Symposium is it gave the opportunity for the FAA to connect with people on a level that they had never had the opportunity. We became real to them,” Merkle said.

“I think it’s been such a great experience. When we return to a time when we can be together again, I really want to figure out…how do we keep this additional piece of magic going? I don’t see that we can ever walk away from this.”

Wynne noted that the Symposium had five times more international participants than it typically has.

Episode II of the FAA UAS Symposium - Remotely Piloted Edition will take place August 18 to 19. More information is available at auvsi.org/FAAsymposium.