Mark Huber is an aviation industry veteran who has worked in the flight training, aircraft sales, aircraft component, and airport development businesses. He has flight time in more than 50 different and diverse aircraft, including helicopters, aerobatic aircraft, vintage warbirds, jet fighters, business jets and turboprops, and transport-category aircraft. He has jumped out of several of these—on purpose—with a parachute. His defense and aviation journalism has been published in a variety of national and international periodicals.

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Mark Huber

UPS Flight Forward has received the first full FAA Standard Part 135 air carrier and operator certificate for commercial unmanned drone deliveries by a dedicated drone delivery company, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced yesterday.

 


“This is a big step forward in safely integrating unmanned aircraft systems into our airspace, expanding access to healthcare in North Carolina, and building on the success of the national UAS Integration Pilot Program to maintain American leadership in unmanned aviation,” said Chao. Certificate in hand, UPS made the first revenue flight with it using a Matternet M2 quadcopter late last week. UPS’s certificate permits the company to fly an unlimited number of drones with an unlimited number of remote operators in command, enabling the company to scale demand, operate aircraft weighing more than 55 pounds, and fly at night.

 


UPS received the certificate via the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program (IPP) and allows UPS to operate multiple drones under a single certificate and conduct beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights. UPS initially plans to use drones to deliver high-priority medical supplies on the WakeMed healthcare campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. UPS is partnering with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) in the IPP. UPS said the company will “initially expand its drone delivery service further to support hospital campuses around the country and to provide solutions for customers beyond those in the healthcare industry” and will “regularly fly drones beyond the operators’ visual line of sight.”

 


“This is history in the making, and we aren’t done yet,” said David Abney, UPS chief executive officer. “Our technology is opening doors for UPS and solving problems in unique ways for our customers. We will soon announce other steps to build out our infrastructure, expand services for healthcare customers, and put drones to new uses in the future.”

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