Airports and Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Volume 1: Managing and Engaging Stakeholders on UAS in the Vicinity of Airports

The introduction of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) has presented a wide range of new safety, economic, operational, regulatory, community, environmental, and infrastructure challenges to airports and the National Airspace System. These risks are further complicated by the dynamic and shifting nature of UAS technologies.

The Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP Research Report 212: Airports and Unmanned Aircraft Systems provides guidance for airports on UAS in the areas of managing UAS operations in the vicinity of an airport and engaging stakeholders (Volume 1), incorporating UAS into airport infrastructure and planning (Volume 2), and potential use of UAS by airport operators (Volume 3).

Volume 1: Managing and Engaging Stakeholders on UAS in the Vicinity of Airports provides guidance for airport operators and managers to interact with UAS operations in the vicinity of airports. The demand for commercial UAS may increase significantly once advanced UAS operations—including beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, operations over people, and operations of multiple UAS by one pilot—are allowed through broader regulatory frameworks. The introduction of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) has presented a wide range of new safety, economic, operational, regulatory, community, environmental, and infrastructure challenges to airports and the National Airspace System. These risks are further complicated by the dynamic and shifting nature of UAS technologies.

Volume 2: Incorporating UAS into Airport Infrastructure—Planning Guidebook provides planning, operational, and infrastructure guidance to safely integrate existing and anticipated UAS operations into an airport environment.

Volume 3: Potential Use of UAS by Airport Operators provides airports with resources to appropriately integrate UAS missions as part of their standard operations.

Supplemental resources to ACRP Research Report 212 are provided in ACRP Web-Only Document 42: Toolkits and Resource Library for Airports and Unmanned Aircraft Systems.