A new advisory board has been formed in Wisconsin to focus on unmanned aerial systems (UAS), also known as drones. The Board is composed of a broad spectrum of UAS users in the state from both the private sector and public agencies. The President of the Board is Chris Johnsom, founder and CEO of PilotTrainingSystem.com and Director of the UW-Madison Flight Lab. Board members include representatives from the private UAS sector, non-profits, the FAA, legal firms, first responders, hobbyists, and the Wisconsin Departments of Justice, Natural Resources, Administration, and Transportation.
More information about the WUAB is available on their website. Meetings, scheduled to be held quarterly, will be open to the public. According to Dr. Johnson, WUAB is so new that they do not have a calendar on their interim website yet, but the next meeting will be in early October.
The mission of the new Board is to offer a source for technical expertise and discussion of safety and privacy issues related to civilian UAS use. The Board intends to develop policy recommendations for state, local, and institutional bodies through its quarterly meetings. Readers who have been following the Mapping Bulletin’s updates on UAS regulations in the state and through the FAA will be aware that the FAA’s new “Part 107” rules have opened the door for commercial UAS applications in the national airspace.
Also of note is an upcoming UAS conference at UW-Madison on October 3-4, 2016. Additional details can be found here. This conference is being offered through UW-Madison’s Department of Engineering Professional Development. More details will be available closer in time to the event.