KSU-Salina receives green light

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Aug. 31--The Salina Municipal Airport's runways have been host to some of the largest aircraft in the world, but within a few weeks, one very small aircraft will begin operations at the airport.

Officials at Kansas State University at Salina announced Tuesday that the university had received a Certificate of Authorization from the FAA to fly its Aerosonde Mk 4.7 unmanned aircraft out of the airport, to fly to and from the Great Plains Joint Training Center.

The university has been flying the Aerosonde at the training center southwest of Salina for a couple of years, but being able to operate out of the airport will add a different level to what students can learn, said Josh Brungardt, director of the university's unmanned aerial systems office.

Realistic training

"Instead of launching and landing at Crisis City, we'll be using the 18-36 runway, which will be more realistic training for long-distance missions," Brungardt said. "Another advantage this gives us is a paved surface for launch and recovery."

The Aerosonde has a wingspan of 11.8 feet, is powered by a small gasoline engine and can stay aloft for about 10 hours, carrying a variety of cameras and other sensors and beaming information back to ground controllers.

KSU-Salina has offered classes in unmanned aerial systems for a couple of years and this fall started offering a bachelor's degree in the subject.

The university has several unmanned airplanes and helicopters, but for now only the Aerosonde has the FAA authorization to fly in a corridor linking the airport to Crisis City.

Because of safety concerns, the FAA still tightly restricts where unmanned aircraft can fly, and the process of getting permission to fly often takes six months; when granted, that permission is only for one specific aircraft.

Brungardt said he expects to seek certificates of authorization for other aircraft in the future. He said that because the university now has a history of working with the FAA, the approval time for such certificates has dropped to 30 days.

Tim Rogers, executive director of the Salina Airport Authority, sees this as another step toward Salina being a leader in this relatively new field.

"The Certificate of Authorization issued to K-State Salina for unmanned aircraft operations at Salina will position the Salina airport and the K-State UAS program at the forefront of the future of aviation," Rogers said. "Unmanned aircraft will slowly be introduced into commercial use, and K-State will be on the leading edge of that process."

* Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by email at [email protected].