When the decision from the federal government came down Monday on six drone test sites across the country, Georgia walked away defeated.
In a competition among 24 states vying to become the Silicon Valley of drones, the Federal Aviation Administration selected locations in Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia.
“It’s disappointing to hear,” said Chad Dennis at Middle Georgia State College, who is the program liaison for unmanned aircraft systems for the Georgia Centers of Innovation for Aerospace.
The FAA plans to use data from the testing to develop regulations and operational procedures for drones, which are used in search and rescue, package delivery, agriculture and other areas. The test site designation would have brought national attention and possibly helped to attract more companies. But Dennis and other Georgia aerospace boosters say the FAA’s decision won’t halt the development of the industry in the state.
“We’re not going to sit back,” said Steve Justice, director of the Georgia Centers of Innovation for Aerospace. Winning the test site designation would have been “a nice addition,” he said, “(but) our goal is to continue to proceed with our plan” to help companies prepare for FAA rules to integrate drones into the nation’s airspace by 2015.
Companies and organizations already test fly drones at a handful of locations around the state, including at Middle Georgia State College’s Eastman campus and the Heart of Georgia Regional Airport, by getting a certificate of authorization for each project. But getting the test site designation would streamline the process for approval — potentially making it more attractive to companies that need frequent use of test sites.
But, “it doesn’t mean we don’t have permission to fly. It doesn’t mean that this work is going to stop,” said Nick Alley, chief executive of unmanned aircraft development firm Area-I in Kennesaw. “The growth of this industry in the state is going to continue regardless.”
Alley added that it could even be easier for local firms like his to continue with flight testing, rather than sharing access with others from all over. The test site designations also do not come with any funding from the FAA.
Noting that none of the six sites selected is in the Deep South, Justice said “our plan is still to be the leader in the Southeast, to be able to attract companies from all over who are looking for test sites.”
The application for the test site designation was a group effort including Georgia Tech, Middle Georgia State College and the Centers of Innovation for Aerospace, along with private drone firms including Area-I, Guided Systems in Stockbridge and Adaptive Flight in Marietta.
State officials plan to ask for a debriefing from the FAA, where officials hope to glean a better idea of why Georgia missed out.
Michael Huerta, FAA Administrator, said the six test sites "achieve cross-country geographic and climatic diversity."
In Georgia, the drone business is made up of a handful of companies, “whereas in other states you have very large companies that are lobbying,” Alley said.
Alley said even though Georgia wasn’t selected as a test site, his company isn’t going anywhere.
“We’re going to stay here,” Alley said. The industry will eventually be worth billions, he said.
“Unfortunately not having the test site, probably we’re not going to get as big a piece of that pie. But we’ll still get it. … We’ll continue to grow.”
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