University of Alaska’s drone program gets FAA waiver in UAV tests

A division of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) specializing in drone development and operation has been given a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) waiver allowing experts to directly assess the air worthiness of craft and oversee their testing in various operational scenarios and certification trial runs.

The UAF says the special FAA waiver permits its Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI) unit to determine the reliability of drones that companies and research organizations seek to use in trial flights. The authorization acknowledges ACUASI’s own expertise in evaluating the safety of UAVs turning to the program’s oversight in trials, and in doing so seeks to eliminate a lot of the paperwork and delays involved in having to petition for approval from regulators on a case-by-case basis.

Read: GAO’s report on FAA drone integration strategy: You can do better

The FAA waiver covers all drones under 300 pounds, and places both…