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Amazon proposes dividing air into drone zones

Elizabeth Weise
USA TODAY
A slide presented by Gur Kimchi, vice president of Amazon Prime Air, at an Unmanned Aerial Systems Traffic Management convention hosted by NASA and the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International at NASA’s Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif. On July 28, 2015. Kimchi suggested that the airspace below 500 feet be divided up into layers for different types of traffic.

SAN FRANCISCO — In an effort to make America's low altitude airspace safe for package delivery — and a host of other uses — Amazon is proposing a "drone zone."

The idea would be to create rules governing how Class G airspace, below 500 feet, is divvied up, so the burgeoning drone and unmanned aerial vehicle industries can make better use of it.

Gur Kimchi, vice president of Amazon Prime Air, spoke Tuesday at an Unmanned Aerial Systems Traffic Management convention hosted by NASA and the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.

The conference, which runs through Thursday, was held at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.

In a keynote, Kimchi's suggested the airspace up to 500 feet be divided into layers for different types of traffic.

Zero to 200 feet above ground would be for low-speed, localized traffic, including consumer and recreational drones. That's up to about the height of an 18-story building.

The airspace between 200 and 400 feet would be reserved for high-speed transit — drone deliveries, fire fighting, first-responders and other commercial and non-commercial uses.

Users of this layer of the the airspace would be required to install state-of-the-art, automated 'sense and avoid' systems, to ensure that there were no crashes.

The airspace between 400 and 500 feet would be left empty, as a buffer zone to keep drones far away from planes, helicopters and other manned vehicles.

Kimchi called for the drone industry to adopt standards for airspace access and for the Federal Aviation Administration to adopt performance-based equipage standards.

"Don't lock into today's capabilities," his slide read.

One controversial aspect of Kimchi's proposal is that it would introduce regulation of what's now a very fluid space.

Currently drones are allowed to fly as high as 200 feet without applying for a specific certification of authorization from the FAA.

"People are going to be asking why they can't fly above 200 feet," said Michael Drobac, executive director of the Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Coalition.

"But it can't be done any other way. There have to be rules. There have to be certain areas where certain operators can operate without causing problems," said Drobac, who is also senior counsel with the Washington D.C. firm of Akin Gump.

"With the emergence of unmanned aircraft systems, we need some way to organize them when demand goes very high," said Parimal Kopardekar,project manager for NASA's safe autonomous system operations project.

NASA sponsored the conference because the agency's original mission included aviation, said Joseph Rios, NASA's Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Traffic Management Convention project lead.

"Remember, the first A in NASA stands for Aeronautics. An important part of aeronautics research is actually air traffic management," he said.

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