This is what it all boils down to.
On February 24th, at 12:00PM Eastern Time, Kenji and Vic will participate in their first Drone Advisory Committee (DAC) meeting. And anyone interested will be able to join in and watch. Links below.
But first, what is the DAC, and what are the reasons for the creation of DSPA?
The DAC was created in 2016 by the U.S. Department of Transportation in accordance with the Federal Aviation Committee Act. “The objective of the DAC is to provide independent advice and recommendations to the DOT and the FAA and to respond to specific taskings received directly from the FAA. The advice, recommendations, and taskings relate to improving the efficiency and safety of integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System. In response to FAA requests, the DAC may provide the FAA and DOT with information that may be used for tactical and strategic planning purposes.”(1)
There are 35 DAC members comprised of 14 Stakeholder Groups, and a Chair and Designated Federal Officer. Membership is comprised of “CEO/COO-level executives from a cross-section of stakeholders representing the wide variety of UAS interests, including industry, research and academia, retail, and technology.”(2) Other Stakeholder Groups include such entities as State and Local Government Agencies, R&D, Academia, and UAS Manufacturers and Software Developers. And now for the first time, there will be people on the DAC that actually fly drones for a living. Kenji and Vic are the first members of the newly created “Citizen UAS Operators” Stakeholder Group.
The DAC acts solely in an advisory capacity, will only undertake tasks assigned by the FAA, work in task groups to deliberate and approve recommendations from those groups, and respond to any ad-hoc requests from the FAA or DOT.
Drone Service Providers Alliance (DSPA) was created in part to help offset costs associated with travel and preparation for any upcoming DAC or other committees Kenji or Vic ended up on. And with the appointment of both of them (Kenji as CEO, President of DSPA, and Vic as Owner of Moss Photography), membership needs are doubled.
This month’s first DAC meeting will be virtual, so there are no travel expenses. That works out very nicely for all of us. And being virtual helps us both get our feet wet before we dive in and roll up our sleeves.
A quick “Thank You” to all who showed us support in our applications, and a special thanks to those who have joined DSPA and helped us with your generous support. We both will do our best to faithfully represent the interests of all small and medium sized Drone Service Providers (DSP).
We look forward to continuing to fairly represent not only the DSPs, but also the associated groups that will benefit from our advocacy. That includes the Recreational and FPV drone operators.
If you’d like to join the DAC meeting as an observer, it will be live on the FAA’s Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook accounts. Again, that’s on February 24th, from Noon Eastern until 2:00PM Eastern time.
Links:
FAA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FAA
FAA YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/FAAnews
FAA Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/FAANews
We look forward to hearing from anyone who watches and/or has feedback. You can drop us a message here on our contact page, or email us directly: kenji@dspalliance.org or vic@dspalliance.org.
Thanks, and as always, #FlySafe.
(1) DAC Charter (https://www.faa.gov/uas/programs_partnerships/drone_advisory_committee/media/DAC_Charter.pdf)
(2) DAC Webpage (https://www.faa.gov/uas/programs_partnerships/drone_advisory_committee/)
Thanks as always to our Bronze Business Members
GL White & Associates, Wildfire Investigations
Join us, and help us keep the NAS free for our industry.
A United Voice for Positive Change
