Drones Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Marshall University Roundtable Will Explore Advanced Air Mobility

Marshall University is hosting a roundtable Monday to explore the idea of Advanced Air Mobility, or drones, for transportation purposes. Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is the use of unmanned aircraft to transport people and equipment to urban and rural locations not accessible by traditional airplanes.

Marshall University is hosting a roundtable Monday to explore the idea of Advanced Air Mobility, or drones, for transportation purposes.

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is the use of unmanned aircraft to transport people and equipment to urban and rural locations not accessible by traditional airplanes.

Aircraft can range in size from small cargo-carrying drones to passenger-carrying air taxis.

AAM is considered a big opportunity for Appalachia.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Appalachian communities became increasingly isolated with an interstate highway system that underserved the area. While reconnecting Appalachian communities has since improved, the region remains largely depressed in the transportation industry, in part due to its challenging terrain.

But despite its challenging geography and low population densities, West Virginia is well positioned for multi-modal transportation concepts.

Vertx Partners is helping organize the roundtable event by identifying stakeholders in the Appalachian area – an economy considered dependent on the efficient transportation of goods, people, and sensors.

The roundtable is called the Autonomous Aerial Cargo Operations at Scale CONOPS. It is a NASA University Initiative organized by University of Texas – Austin and MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Massachusetts.

Roundtable presenters include Andrew Weinert, technical staff, MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Ufuk Topcu, associate professor, University of Texas at Austin. Other speakers include Mike Graney, executive director, West Virginia Department of Economic Development; Marshall University chief aviation officer Bill Noe; Nancy Ritter, director and chief pilot at Bill Noe Flight School and West Virginia State Sen. Chandler Swope, R-Mercer County.

Participants in the roundtable will consider public concerns like noise pollution, privacy, or perceived risks of autonomous operations.

The two day event is Monday and Tuesday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Bill Noe Flight School in Charleston.

Legislature Considers Bringing New Air Transportation Tech To W.Va.

Members of the West Virginia legislature met during an interim meeting Monday to discuss potential legislation that would promote economic development for Advanced Air Mobility in the state.

The concept includes the use of autonomous, low-altitude aircraft similar to drones to transport people and cargo. Industry leaders talked with the Joint Commission on Economic Development about future budget and infrastructure plans for the technology, potentially opening the state up to small businesses in the field.

Sean Frisbee, president of Vertx Partners, says West Virginia is an ideal place for the technology to be tested. The aircraft could help those in rural areas have better access to essential goods.

“I really believe that rural America has an outsize benefit to be gained with Advanced Air Mobility. Many of our elderly in the rural areas are unable to pick up their pharmaceuticals, for example,” Frisbee said.

This meeting comes after the legislature passed two bills during the 2022 regular session promoting its development: House Bill 4667, which prohibits cities, towns, municipalities, or counties from creating restrictions on advanced aircraft or systems, and House Bill 4827, which promotes the development of public-use vertiports (which work as helipads do for helicopters) as state policy.

Discussions with the legislature continued today as companies like Vertx look for funding to bring the technology to West Virginia.

“You’ve got public, private, nonprofit, academic entities that are involved in this. So this is this really complex system that no one entity owns. No one entity is going to be the leader, there’s going to be multiple leaders, and we believe West Virginia can be one of those leaders,” Frisbee said.

Economists are expecting Advanced Air Mobility to be a $100 billion industry by 2035. The industry is expected to add roughly 280,000 jobs to the nation’s workforce and $80 billion in tax revenue federally.

Lawmakers To Get Drone Demonstrations During WVU Day

State lawmakers will get a chance to learn how to operate a drone during West Virginia University Day at the Legislature on Tuesday.

Members of the WVU Extension 4-H Tech Changemakers will talk about their experiences teaching digital skills and show the lawmakers and other guests how drones are operated.

The event takes place in the Capitol Rotunda.

The event starting Tuesday morning also will include interactive activities and exhibits for visitors.

The Mountaineer will unveil a new display about the history of the Mountaineer mascot, and guests can test their legislative knowledge by participating in a themed trivia game.

Drone Bill Approved in W.Va. Senate

A bill to create guidelines for drones in the state has made its way through the West Virginia Senate.

Senate Bill 9 creates guidelines for the private and commercial use of drones or unmanned aircrafts.

The bill says drones cannot be flown within 100 feet of someone else’s home, says you cannot take video or still images on someone else’s property without their expressed permission, and requires law enforcement to get a warrant before using a drone in an investigation.

There are exceptions for police officers though that allow them to use drones for public safety and search and rescue purposes.

The bill also prohibits the taking of photos and video on industrial sights, like at a coal mine, a natural gas processing facility, or a power plant, although Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump explained on the floor there is an exception to the provision.

“We recognized in trying to craft this piece of legislation with some balance that there are times when a designated industrial facility or the owner of it wouldn’t want a drone over that property,” Trump said on the floor.

Media outlets, according to Trump, who obtain a license from the Federal Aviation Administration receive a number of exceptions under the bill to protect the freedom of the press.

Senators, however, were interested in how personal usage of drones would be affected by the legislation, like Senate Minority Leader Roman Prezioso who questioned Trump about taking aerial shots of entire cities.

“If you…took that picture, there’s not expectation of privacy there. You’re shooting the buildings, the streets, the traffic, the people, people have no expectation of privacy when they’re out and about like that,” Trump explained, “but if someone were to fly a drone from someone’s bedroom window and take pictures from the outside of inside the house, there is an expectation of privacy.”

The bill does create a number of misdemeanor offenses for violating various areas of the bill, including harassment or operating a drone while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Fashioning a weapon on a drone would be a felony.

All three offenses are punishable with fines and jail time.

Senate Set to Vote on Drone Bill

Senators will vote on a bill Wednesday that regulates the use of drones in the state. The bill has been years in the making, according to its lead sponsor.

Senate Bill 9 sets a number of guidelines for both the personal and professional use of drones, or unmanned aircraft.

Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump said Tuesday his chamber has actually been working on the legislation for several years, but last summer, the Federal Aviation Administration released its guidelines about drone usage.

“But there’s a good bit that the federal aviation administration left to the states basically unregulated for the states to craft their own rules and that’s what this bill endeavors to do,” he said.

Among its many provisions, Senate Bill 9 lays out rules for the use of drones on personal property and sets penalties for publishing images taken with a drone without permission of the subject.

It defines how news organizations can use the aircraft and says law enforcement must have a warrant to take pictures or video with a drone, unless it’s for public safety or search and rescue purposes.

With so many groups interested in the bill, Trump said it became a much more complex piece of legislation than anticipated.

Grant to Help Kentucky, West Virginia Students Study Drones

College students in Kentucky and West Virginia who train for the rapidly growing drone industry are getting some financial backing from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins of West Virginia says in a news release that students from Maysville Community and Technical College in Kentucky and Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College will benefit from the $1.3 million grant.

The grant involves the Regional Drone Technology Workforce Project involving the two schools.

Under the grant, the schools will be able to enroll 100 students and give them the chance to study the drone industry.