The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) has announced the formal establishment of an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) committee.
According to NATE, the group will be tasked with monitoring the trends and regulatory environment associated with rapidly evolving UAS technologies and making recommendations to NATE members and the wireless infrastructure community on best practices when it comes to UAS integration.
The committee will also focus on collaborating with federal agencies and interested stakeholders in the development of guidelines to promote the safe commercial and private use of these systems.
The UAS committee currently comprises the following members:
• Greg Emerick (Sentera; licensed pilot)
• Jim Goldwater (Bob Lawrence & Associates)
• John Paul Jones (Tower & Turbine Technologies LLC; licensed pilot)
• Phil Larsen (HAZON Solutions LLC; UAV pilot and student pilot)
• Jimmy Miller (MillerCo Inc.; licensed pilot)
• Todd Schlekeway (NATE)
NATE is a nonprofit trade association that provides a unified voice for tower erection, service and maintenance companies. The association boasts over 685 member companies throughout the U.S., Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The UAS committee has been actively participating in the recent National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) stakeholder meetings on UAS. The committee plans to continue this dialogue with NTIA officials, the Federal Aviation Administration, policymakers, regulators and stakeholders to ensure that the wireless infrastructure industry’s priorities remain at the forefront of the conversation as key decisions are made regarding UAS, says NATE.
