Palmer’s airport to be test center for unmanned aircraft, support technology

Air carriers have used automatic pilots for years on flights as an aid human air crew, but what’s envisioned now is aircraft operating under the control of a ground-based pilot or even autonomously.

In Palmer, discussions are underway with owners of hangers at the city’s airport and a lease is expected to be signed in a couple of months, according to Dr. Catherine Cahill, director of the UAF’s Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration.

Equipment is already being purchased for the facility although a hanger has not yet been selected, she said in an interview.

“We’re very exciting about this potential, for the community as well as the airport,” said John Diumenti, Palmer’s airport manager.

“These systems will blend in just like any other aircraft. They will comply with the same rules that everyone follows,” he said.

There is intense interest in the potential for autonomous and semi-autonomous aircraft because of the continuing shortage of pilots in the aviation industry.

Several companies are developing systems that could be used someday in larger cargo aircraft, such as C-130s.

The Palmer airport facility will support the university’s further development and testing of aircraft along with work to support private firms developing their systems for autonomous operations.

The work will also include technologies to support systems, particularly safety systems, that will detect and avoid other aircraft in the airspace as well as payloads that can be used for a variety of missions, Cahill said.

“We’ve already had a lot of people in the Mat-Su community as well as in Anchorage reaching out to us who are interested in our helping with development and testing of their aircraft and technologies,” she said.

“We want to be able to support other people in what they’re doing.

The university and its partners have been operating unmanned aircraft from Fairbanks International Airport and have conducted test flights to communities in the Interior and Deadhorse, on the North Slope.

The unmanned aircraft include Cessna 208 Caravans although most of UAF’s work has been on smaller unmanned aircraft. Currently flight tests with the Caravans have include a “safety pilot” in the aircraft who can take over in an emergency.

Similarly, the longer-distance tests with the smaller vehicles, like the 16-foot-wingspan SeaHunter, include a “chase plane” following the unmanned vehicle. However, the goal is eventually to get to completely automated or remotely-controlled systems.

Palmer is just one of several sites selected for testing outside the Fairbanks area, although it is one of the furthest along in development. Other locations chosen for test centers include Nenana, for testing in a cold, dry environment, and Valdez, for tests in a maritime environment.

Cahill said UAF is interested in Palmer’s airport because windy conditions in the area allows testing under those conditions. “We want to know our limits,” she said.

Also, state agencies like the Division of Forestry use Palmer’s airport to support seasonal flight operations, Cahill said. UAF has supported the division in summer firefighting with its unmanned aircraft in recent years, so the proximity at Palmer is a good fit.

“We also believe we can fit in well with the general aviation community at Palmer. We’re just another aircraft,” Cahill said.

UAF began its unmanned aircraft program in 2001 and in 2013 was selected as one of six sites in the U.S. approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for operations and testing for commercial use of unmanned aircraft.

While the military has long been active with drones most of those are operated, in the U.S., within the nation’s restricted military airspace. Even in Alaska, Grey Eagle military drones at Fort Wainwright are escorted by manned aircraft to and from the military’s restricted airspace in the Interior.

Cahill said the FAA is not allowing drones to operate at will in the public airspace until safety can be assured because many general aviation aircraft do not have transponders and re more difficult to detect. The exception to this are flights done in approved tests such as those done by UAF.

Initially the university operated with smaller unmanned aircraft at UAF’s Poker Flat Research Range rocket launch facility as well as at UAF’s agricultural research fields, where there is a big expanse of open land. As the program grew operations were extended to Fairbanks’ airport.

A milestone in the Alaska program came in 2019 when UAF was granted a waiver for the first test flight out of “visual line of sight,” where the pilot could not see the drone, which is required under the FAA’s small aircraft unmanned rule.

The waiver was for four miles to allow a UAF drone to fly along the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, or TAPS, on a section of the pipeline route north of Fairbanks for an inspection.

UAF since been given permission to fly for 20 miles beyond visual line-of-sight along the pipeline and Cahill hopes FAA will eventually agree to allow flights along the entire 800-mile TAPS route.

Last summer Merlin, a Boston-based aviation operator, worked with UAF and the FAA, and Everts Air Cargo to carry out test flights with a Cessna 208 between Fairbanks and Deadhorse, Fort Yukon, Galena, Huslia and Tanana.

“The TAPS flights and Merlin operations were some of the first steps toward the safe, routine operations of unmanned aircraft in Alaska’s skies,” Cahill said.