NASA’s large remotely piloted Ikhana aircraft successfully flew its first mission in the National Airspace System without a safety chase aircraft on Tuesday from the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The Ikhana flew in accordance with FAA Technical Standard Order 211 (detect and avoid systems) and Technical Standard Order 212 (air-to-air radar for traffic surveillance). The FAA granted NASA special permission to conduct this flight under the authority of a certificate of waiver or authorization on March 30. Tuesday’s flight was the first remotely piloted aircraft to use airborne detect and avoid technology to meet the intent of the FAA’s “see and avoid” rules, with all test objectives successfully accomplished.
The Ikhana was equipped with an airborne radar developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., a Honeywell Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System, a Detect and Avoid Fusion Tracker, and an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast capability.
The flight took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California and entered controlled airspace almost immediately, flying into the Class A airspace just west of Edwards at an altitude of about 20,000 feet. The aircraft then turned north toward Fresno, requiring air traffic control to be transferred from the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center to the Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center. On the return trip, the pilot headed south toward Victorville, California, requiring communication control to be transferred back to Los Angeles. During the return flight, the pilot began a gentle descent over the city of Tehachapi, California, into Class E airspace at about 10,000 feet, then initiated an approach into Victorville airport at 6,000 feet, coordinating in real time with air traffic controllers at the airport. The aircraft then returned to its base at Armstrong.
“This is a huge milestone for our unmanned aircraft systems Integration in the National Airspace System project team,” said Ed Waggoner, NASA’s Integrated Aviation Systems program director. “We worked closely with our Federal Aviation Administration colleagues for several months to ensure we met all their requirements to make this initial flight happen.”