The first meeting of the Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team (UAST) was held on October 18-19 in Washington, D.C. This team was first announced back in August by Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta at the White House Drone Day. This team includes a wide variety of stakeholders from drone aviation industries and government stakeholders. The team is set to gather and analyze data that will ultimately enhance safe operation of drones in the national airspace.

Building on the success of the government-industry Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) in reducing airline accident rates, the FAA hopes that UAST will be able to address issues raised by the increase in drone operations in U.S. skies. While the first meeting was mostly for organizational purposes, the FAA said in its press release that “team participants were enthusiastic about participating on the UAST and advancing the safe integration of UAS into the nation’s airspace.”

[View source.]