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John McHale is executive editor of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, where he has been covering the defense Industry for more than dozen years. During that time he also led PennWell's launches of magazines and shows on homeland security and a defense publication and website in Europe. Mr. McHale has served as chairman of the Military & Aerospace Electronics Forum and its Advisory Council since 2004. He lives in Boston with his golf clubs.

John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.

Courtney E. Howard is senior editor of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine. She is responsible for writing news stories and feature articles for the print publication, as well as composing daily news for the magazine's Website and assembling the weekly electronic newsletter. Her features have appeared in such high-tech trade publications as Military & Aerospace Electronics, Computer Graphics World, Electronic Publishing, Small Times, and The Audio Amateur.

Avionics Intelligence Blog

UAVs sharing civilian airspace

Aug 13, 2009

Posted by John McHale

One of the topics of discussion this week at the Unmanned Systems North America show in Washington was what needs to be done technologically and culturally to manage the growing use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in civilian airspace.

The key is to take a proactive air traffic management approach instead of reacting to problems such as collision avoidance, David Vos, senior director of Unmanned Airborne Systems and Control Technologies for Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, told me today.

The biggest challenge will not be technological or bureaucratic, but rather cultural, Vos said. Many in the commercial aircraft industry do not understand unmanned systems and they need to realize they are not just toys or model airplanes, he added.

In a presentation he made at the show this week Vos said that "as the need for civil UAVs increases and airspace continues to crowd, the NextGen (Next generation Air Traffic Management System), SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research), and increased automation are essential."

Vos also says those concerned must understand the rules as determined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Eurocontrol.

If there comes a time when the Department of Homeland Security needs to use UAVs over New York City, they must have an open dialogue with commercial airspace authorities.

UAVs are not going to decrease in numbers, they are here to stay and in the long run will be more economical than manned aircraft, Vos said.

He predicted that there will come a day when commercial passenger flights are pilotless much the same way some trains are today.

Once people become more comfortable with the concept, the UAV business will explode.

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