This week, the FAA announced that it had authorized commercial drone flights without visual observers in the same Dallas-area airspace. Calling it “a first for U.S. aviation,” the FAA stated that the authorizations allow for drone delivery leaders Zipline International and Wing Aviation “to deliver packages while keeping their drones safely separated using Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) technology.”

The announcement comes at a time of great interest and enthusiasm about the work of the UAS Traffic Management (UTM) Key Site operating in the Dallas-Fort Worth (TX) area. As reported last month in Commercial UAV News, this collaborative effort involves the drone delivery companies Zipline, Wing,  Drone Up, and Manna, as well as UTM service provider ANRA Technologies. The goal of the Key Site is to aggregate information from uncrewed operations and use that data to help shape the FAA’s policy decisions concerning beyond visual line of site (BVLOS) operations.

This week’s milestone for the Key Site project was made possible, the FAA said, by “new advancements in air traffic technology and procedures are providing a key step toward making these Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights routine.”

As the agency explained, “Using UTM services, companies can share data and planned flight routes with other authorized airspace users. This allows the operators to safely organize and manage drone flights around each other in shared airspace. All flights occur below 400 feet altitude and away from any crewed aircraft.”

Moreover, the FAA reported, the authorization “comes as the FAA works to release the Normalizing UAS BVLOS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which would enable drone operators to expand operations while maintaining the same high level of safety as traditional aviation.” The FAA stated that it is “on track to release the NPRM this year, following strong Congressional support in the recent FAA reauthorization.

Looking ahead, that agency said that it “expects initial flights using UTM services will begin in August and issuing more authorizations in the Dallas area soon.”

Watch Commercial UAV News for regular updates on the Dallas-Foth Worth UTM Key Site.

If you’re interested in learning more about these advances at Commercial UAV Expo 2024, use this link register or see the entire conference program conference here.