Also: Dumb Illinois Pilots Regs, Aero-Calendar, Collision Avoidance, Aviation Scholarship, 3000th F-35A Sortie, Heli-Corridor, PAL-V
In a White House announcement that was long on hyperbole and short on substance, President Donald Trump announced his plan for shifting Air Traffic Control from the FAA to a private, nonprofit corporation in a speech from the East Room of the White House, though few if any details were revealed. In the 11 minute speech, Trump criticized the FAA for continuing to use a system that is "stuck painfully in the past", and the billions of dollars that have been "wasted" on its modernization efforts to bring NextGen online. About a month ago, Kitty Hawk, a company backed by Google Cofounder Larry Page, unveiled
Also: Driverless Audi, Shadow Police UAS, Counter UAS Task Force, Airborne-Unmanned -- Help Wanted
A curious, if not confusing, new bill authored by a bipartisan mix of Senators pretty much wants to do away with Federal preemption and give state and local governments the power to regulate drones flying under 200 feet AGL... The chaos potential, of course, is huge and industry reaction has been largely negative. Senators Tom Cotton, Dianne Feinstein, Mike Lee and Richard Blumenthal have introduced the Drone Federalism Act. The Senators errantly insist that in the timeframe between September 2015 to September 2016, nearly 1,500 drone incidents were reported. Mind you, such reports have previously been picked apart elsewhere and by a number of authorities.
Succeeds U.S. Navy Capt. Christopher Cassidy In The Post
NASA’s Director of Flight Operations Brian Kelly has selected Texas native Patrick Forrester as the chief of the Astronaut Office. Forrester replaces U.S. Navy Capt. Christopher Cassidy, who has held the position since July 2015. Cassidy will return to the astronaut corps and resume his candidacy for flight assignment.
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Will Research Making Space Radio Spectrum Available For Auction
A team comprised of the FAA, the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) received approval and approximately $71.5 million in funding from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to proceed with an effort to study the feasibility of making space on the radio spectrum available for auction.
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Launched Saturday Aboard A Previously-Flown Falcon 9 Rocket
A refurbished Dragon unmanned cargo vessel launched Saturday atop a space-proven Falcon 9 booster reached the International Space Station Monday morning, and was successfully grappled and docked to the station.
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