FAA doubles BEYOND drone program as Minnesota State builds UAS workforce network

The federal program is designed to move advanced drone operations toward routine use in U.S. airspace, while Minnesota is bringing higher education, industry and workforce organizations together around the skills needed to support the sector

The FAA is expanding its BEYOND drone program as Minnesota State Transportation Center of Excellence works to develop a statewide UAS workforce community

The Federal Aviation Administration is doubling the size of BEYOND, its program for testing how more advanced drone operations can be integrated into everyday U.S. airspace, with up to eight additional state, local, tribal and territorial entities set to join as lead participants.

Alongside that expansion, the Minnesota State Transportation Center of Excellence is building a statewide UAS Community of Practice to connect higher education, industry and workforce development organizations around unmanned aircraft systems skills and training.

UAS, or unmanned aircraft systems, covers drones as well as the equipment and systems used to operate them. The workforce initiative therefore sits alongside a broader regulatory push to move drone operations away from case-by-case approvals and toward more routine use under established aviation rules.

That is the role of BEYOND. The FAA program, launched in 2020 following an earlier drone integration pilot, uses real-world operations to test where drones can safely operate and what regulatory changes may be needed before those operations can be deployed more widely.

Phase 2 will increase the number of organizations involved and focus on some of the areas where routine drone use remains more complex, including public safety missions, airport operations and flights conducted beyond the operator's direct line of sight.

Known as beyond visual line of sight, or BVLOS, these operations allow a drone to travel beyond the area its pilot can physically see. They are central to many potential larger-scale drone applications, but also create additional safety and regulatory requirements because the aircraft is operating without continuous visual observation from its pilot.

The FAA says BEYOND Phase 1 participants completed more than 70,000 flights, including more than 48,000 BVLOS operations.

Data from those flights has fed into the agency's upcoming BVLOS rule and its work to establish performance-based standards for drone operations. BEYOND is intended to integrate drones and other emerging aviation technologies into the National Airspace System, the network of airspace, airports, navigation services and operational infrastructure used for aviation across the U.S., under established rules rather than relying on individual waivers.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford says: “Phase 2 of BEYOND will expand the partnerships and operations needed to address remaining challenges in beyond visual line of sight operations, public safety missions, on-airport operations and other complex airspace environments.”

Minnesota turns attention to the workforce behind UAS growth

In Minnesota, the parallel challenge is developing the education and workforce infrastructure around those technologies.

The Minnesota State Transportation Center of Excellence works across Minnesota State colleges and universities, K-12 education, industry, workforce organizations and government to align education and training with changing transportation and mobility workforce needs.

Executive Director Shawn Haag said on LinkedIn that the Center is now working to establish a UAS Community of Practice bringing together industry, higher education and workforce development organizations.

Its stated aim is to advance UAS workforce development across Minnesota and build partnerships between organizations involved in education, training and the sector itself.

Haag also serves as Principal Investigator for Minnesota's three-year, $1.5 million NASA Aerospace Skilled Technical Workforce Hub, another part of the Center's work around aerospace workforce development.

The Community of Practice adds an education and skills component to a federal program largely focused on regulation, operational testing and safety data. As the FAA expands the environments in which advanced drone operations are tested, the Minnesota initiative is concentrating on bringing together the institutions involved in preparing people to work with those technologies.

Phase 2 applications open

BEYOND Phase 2 is authorized under Section 920 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024.

The FAA plans to select up to eight new lead participants, which will join the program's existing participants and conduct more advanced drone operations within the National Airspace System.

Screening information and application details are available now through the federal application process.