FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 6, 2017
Contact: Tom McMahon, tmcmahon@auvsi.org, (571) 255-7786

AUVSI Announces Initiatives for Enhancing UAS Safety and Performance

Programs designed for collaborating and supporting innovation, technology, risk management

LAS VEGAS – The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) announced at a meeting of its Remote Pilots Council (RPC) in Las Vegas on Tuesday several initiatives to promote safety and performance in the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry.

At the meeting, which was co-hosted yesterday by the AUVSI Nevada Chapter and coincided with the InterDrone conference and exhibition, AUVSI President and CEO Brian Wynne said the initiatives will support the integral role of skilled and responsible operators in the advancement of UAS.

“As more commercial UAS pilots and operators are trained and certified, they will join the aviation community’s long-standing culture and commitment to safety and performance,” Wynne said. “AUVSI is dedicated to working with other stakeholders to ensure there are unified and harmonized standards and regulations for the safe and efficient integration of UAS throughout the global airspace.”

AUVSI announced five initiatives:

• Safety awards program: These awards will recognize operators and organizations that demonstrate outstanding contributions of airmanship, safety, and operational excellence to the UAS industry. The first awards will be presented at AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2018 in Denver next May.
• Increased advocacy: The RPC will increase its visibility to proactively address challenges within the regulatory process and provide solutions by collaborating and supporting innovation, technology, and risk management. The RPC will harness the talents and resources of its members in the UAS industry to provide clear and unified goals.
• Partner-approved AUVSI accredited certification program: AUVSI is collaborating with leading standards and certification providers to establish unified standards for commercial UAS. The standards will provide benchmarks for training, operations and safety management, and allow operators to demonstrate their level of performance to customers and the public.
• Safety credit program: Working with industry leaders, AUVSI will develop a credit program to support the emerging safety culture in the UAS community. Safety credits will be awarded to organizations that sponsor or participate in educational webinars, seminars and conferences, training (other than qualification training), and audits approved by accredited service providers and regulators.
• Collaborative information portal: AUVSI will provide an interactive tool as a service to its members for sharing knowledge, experience, and observations to conduct safe and responsible UAS operations.

The RPC, which AUVSI started earlier this year in collaboration with its local chapters and the Federal Aviation Administration, is a forum for remote pilots to engage directly with one another and the FAA. Among the RPC’s goals are to provide feedback on real-world UAS operations, better understand the FAA waiver process and offer suggestions for increasing its efficiency, discuss operational challenges and potential solutions from within the UAS community and prioritize needs for additional regulation.

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About AUVSI
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) — the world's largest non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of unmanned systems and robotics — represents more than 7,500 members from more than 60 countries involved in the fields of government, industry and academia. AUVSI members work in the defense, civil and commercial markets. For more information, visit AUVSI.org.