AMA joins Virginia Department of Aviation Safety Week
Rich Hanson
richh@modelaircraft.org
The Virginia Department of Aviation (DOAV), in cooperation with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), AMA, and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) hosted a series of safety seminars in cities throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, September 25-28, 2017.
The seminars were part of the DOAV’s semiannual Aviation Safety Week program, and the topic for the 2017 fall Virginia Aviation Safety Week was General Aviation and UAS Integration Around Airports.
Approximately 79% of the Commonwealth’s population lives within 30 minutes of one of its 66 public-use general aviation/commercial service airports. The FAA estimates there will be more than 6 million UAS by the year 2021, compared with 211,086 manned aircraft today. Virginia ranks seventh in the nation for commercial UAS operators, with more than 1,553 FAA-certified remote pilots as well as thousands of recreational fliers.
The Virginia Aviation Safety Week program took place at the Virginia Air & Space Center in Hampton, Virginia, the Danville Regional Airport, the Virginia Tech/Montgomery County Airport in Blacksburg, and the DOAV hangar at Richmond International Airport.
Presenters at the 2017 safety seminar included Randy Burdette, executive director of the DOAV; AMA President Rich Hanson; Kat Swain, AOPA UAS Programs; Jay Willmott, AUVSI; and Niko Kublai from the FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) in Richmond, Virginia.
The safety seminars successfully brought together aviation enthusiasts from manned and unmanned aviation, as well as the aeromodeling community, to talk about safety, airspace integration, and the future of the aerospace industry. This is a program that we hope to duplicate in other states and other locations across the country.
