MEMPHIS, TENN. (February 13, 2019) – Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority (MSCAA) and its partners in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Unmanned Aerial Systems Integration Pilot Program (UAS IPP) will host a public meeting on Wednesday, February 27. The meeting will take place at the University of Memphis Holiday Inn at 6 pm.
The meeting will feature presentations about the UAS-IPP program and a question and answer session with airport partners.
In May, Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority (MSCAA) was selected as one of 10 lead applicants by the U.S. Department of Transportation to participate in the Unmanned Aerial Systems Integration Pilot Program (UAS IPP). The goal of the UAS IPP is to conduct advanced drone operations in selected airspaces to generate data and knowledge for future UAS policymaking. The UAS IPP will be conducted over the next two to three years. The MSCAA IPP’s prioritization will focus on aircraft inspections and security/perimeter surveillance.
MSCAA’s partners include the City of Memphis, Memphis Fire Department, Memphis Police Department, FedEx, Agricenter International, the University of Memphis, the Tennessee Department of Transportation Division of Aeronautics, GE subsidiaries AirXOS and Avitas, Intel, Flirtey, 901Drones, and ForeverReady Productions.
Since August, the program partners have conducted 127 successful drone flights. The flights were part of the first phase of development in low risk areas to help develop operational procedures, assess potential impacts, develop airport and team member communication protocols, and determine the operational reliability of small drones that could be used on the Memphis International Airport (MEM) airfield.
More information about this program is available at www.flymemphis.com/drones or by emailing MEMUAS@flymemphis.com. In addition, MSCAA is seeking public opinions about drone activity through a survey, which is available at http://bit.ly/MEMdronesurvey.
###