FAA Gives The OK For Continued Tests

Aero-News learned Monday the Altair -- an improved, high-altitude version of the famous Predator unmanned aerial vehicle -- was recently awarded re-certification by the FAA to continue tests in the high atmosphere.

The Altair, built by General Atomics with the help of NASA research, is designed to perform scientific and commerical duties at very high altitudes. Most notably, it will conduct surveillance for Homeland Security.

With the re-certification, the Altair UAV now meets the same standards as those of air transport aircraft, and is designed to be completely autonomous... integrating smoothly into the airspace system (helped by the fact most operations will be conducted far above most other planes).

"Last August Altair received the nation’s first airworthiness certificate for an unmanned aircraft system, and a year later it remains the only operating UAS that still carries that distinction," said Thomas J. Cassidy, Jr., president, Aircraft Systems Group, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc (GA-ASI). "Altair’s recertification is a testament to the ability of our aircraft to meet the FAA’s standards and brings us closer to the ultimate goal of enabling routine UA operations in the National Airspace System for emerging commercial and civil applications and military and homeland security missions."

Access to the National Airspace System (NAS) has historically been granted to an unmanned aircraft manufacturer through an FAA-granted Certificate of Authorization (COA). Changes made last fall limit COA issuance to government agencies, and specify that the agency must operate a particular UAV for a particular purpose in a particular area.

In contrast, an airworthiness certificate specifies operating instructions to the aircraft and applies them only to one aircraft, or tail number, for training UA crews in the unrestricted areas where manufacturer airports typically reside. Under Altair’s airworthiness certificate, the aircraft can continue to be used for crew training, experimental flight testing and marketing demonstrations at GA-ASI's Gray Butte and El Mirage air fields in Palmdale and Adelanto, CA.

As part of the recertification process, the FAA conducted the first compliance audit for a UA on the Altair aircraft, which is similar to the testing performed on commercial airliners. Altair passed the audit in compliance with all operations, maintenance and training requirements.

Featuring an 86-foot wingspan and 3,000-pound fuel capacity, Altair can fly above 52,000 feet and remain airborne for over 30 hours. The aircraft is configured with a fault-tolerant dual-architecture flight control system, triple-redundant avionics and a Honeywell turbo-prop engine for high reliability.

FMI: www.uav.com