October: Know Drones Comes to Charlottesville

Know Drones will participate in a public education event about drones in Charlottesville in connection with the Southern Life conference to be held there in October 5-7. Know Drones will display a 1/5 actual size replica of a Reaper drone (8' length, 11' wingspan), elevated on a lifter, and include video displays showing various aspects of drone operations as well as simulation of drone targeting. [SEE INFORMATION ON DRONE REPLICAS BELOW.]


Additional details will be posted in the coming weeks.

For information, or to learn how you can get involved, email us at nodronesvirginia [at] gmail.com.

MORE ABOUT DRONE REPLICAS: Production proceeds on the drone replica for use during the Charlottesville event. Additional replicas are in production for use in New York State and Delaware. See also the report from No Drones Wisconsin about their recent protest activity at the Oshkosh Air Show, and the report about the drone replica being used by Robert Rast in Indiana to protest his son's killing by a drone strike.

Virginia Preparing Six Drone Bases?

According to the Department of Defense Report to Congress on Future Unmanned Aircraft Systems Training, Operations, and Sustainability (April 2012), Virginia has six (6) locations that have been designated as potential basing locations for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) [i.e. drones] (p. 8 ff.).

The table below gives information on the types of drones that are proposed for basing at each location.

BASE	Predator/Reaper type	Shadow/Raven type	Other
Fort Story		RQ-11B	Wasp, Puma, Scan Eagle
Fort Eustis		RQ-11B
NALF Fentress		RQ-11B	Wasp, Puma, S-100
MCB Quantico		RQ-11B, RQ-21A	Wasp
Fort Pickett		RQ-11B, RQ-7B	Viking
Fort AP Hill		RQ-11B, RQ-7B

It is disclosed that the RQ-7B Shadow is operated from Fort A.P. Hill, under the status "Locations Requiring COAs [Certificate of Waiver or Authorization]". ("Locations where the Army currently conducts operations outside of Restricted Areas that require a COA from the FAA. In the majority of these locations, the purpose of the COA is to transition from the launch site to adjacent Restricted Areas. Additionally, the Raven can be operated using DoD-FAA agreed-to Class G airspace notification procedures for flights flown over Government-owned or -leased land." (p. 20))

How do people in Virginia feel about sharing their airspace with drones?