On Feb. 15, the Drone America Savant UAS, equipped with unmanned cloud seeding technology and capabilities, was used to conduct a one-hour beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight at the Hawthorne Industrial Airport in Nevada.

During the flight, which was conducted under the Nevada UAS Test Sites Certificate of Authorization (COA), and led by the Desert Research Institute (DRI) flight operations node, a total of 28 nautical miles was covered, while the UAS reached an altitude of 1,500 feet.

The test flight of the Savant UAS was the longest unmanned, cross-country round-trip flight in the history of the state of Nevada.

“Reaching this milestone allows us to now focus on higher altitude, longer distance flights; as well as the extreme challenges of flying our advanced unmanned fixed-wing aircraft in the harsh, icy weather that come with optimal winter cloud-seeding conditions,” says Drone America’s President and CEO Mike Richards through a press release.

Adam Watts, Ph.D., principal investigator on the project and an assistant research professor at DRI, says, “we have now demonstrated without a doubt that our unmanned cloud seeding technology and capabilities can move beyond line of sight – a significant hurdle in this industry.”

“Most importantly, we have done this safely and in following all FAA regulations and guidelines.”

For over a year, a research team led by DRI, with support from the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development through the Knowledge Fund, has worked to develop an unmanned cloud seeding UAS that can be used to help communities dealing with the effects of droughts, while also exploring creative ways to address challenges surrounding natural-resources, like augmenting regional water supplies.

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