University of Alaska Fairbanks unmanned aircraft site conducts first test flight

Pilots Mike Cook, left, and Jennifer Haney, present a briefing for those assembled before the Aeryon Scout, similar to the one pictured here in front of them, took off on today's historic flight. 

Credit: University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) 

The birds were noisier than the Aeryon Scout as the mini quadcopter whirred over the caribou lounging in the field at the Robert G. White Large Animal Research Station this morning.

The Scout climbed to 200 feet as a crowd of about 50 people silently watched its inaugural flight under the gray overcast sky at Fairbanks, Alaska.

It was a historic first for the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and unmanned aircraft operations.

Michael Huerta, FAA administrator, announced this morning in Anchorage that FAA had granted operational status to the Pan-Pacific Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Range Complex.

Minutes after the announcement, Scout operator Mike Cook took the aircraft to the sky in Fairbanks, the first test mission flight among the six FAA-chosen test sites.

Cook's flight over the caribou was part of a research project to see if the aircraft can be used to observe and collect data about large animals without disturbing them.

"It was picture perfect," said Jay Skaggs, FAA's safety inspector based in Anchorage. "He made aviation history."

UAF's achievement today capped years of work with federal, state and private entities, said UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers.

"Our presence here illustrates an important point about unmanned aircraft work," Rogers said. "It's not simply about the technology, but rather about the application of that technology to real-world needs."

"The test site program is forging ahead just as we expected," said Huerta during the announcement in Anchorage.

"The University of Alaska Fairbanks program is important because it includes a diverse set of test site range locations in seven climatic zones, so it will give us a wealth of data to help develop appropriate safety regulations and standards."

Iran: 2nd Nuclear Enrichment site heightens tensions

Iran's newly-revealed second uranium enrichment site is a "political message" that neither sanctions nor a possible military strike will halt its nuclear program, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the site disclosed in September, knowsn as Fordo, near Qom, was being built in case its main Natanz enrichment plant was bombed.

The U.N. watchdog IAEA says Iran was legally bound to reveal the project at least two years ago, according to Reuters.

On Monday, an IAEA report said Iran's acknowledgement of the site was long overdue and "reduced confidence" that Tehran was not hiding other sites that could perhaps support other nuclear facilities, Reuters reported.

The report stated that Iran told the IAEA that it had begun constructing the plant within a bunker under a mountain in late 2007, but the IAEA had satellite pictures and intelligence evidence pointing to a construction start date of 2002.

Iran granted IAEA inspectors access to the site on Oct. 26-27, but didn't provide them with access to its director or architects. The report said Iran had not yet convinced the agency that the country had ruled out the existence of more hidden sites.

"We reject this 100 percent," said Soltanieh, according to Reuters. "This kind of judgment is absolutely wrong, unfair, political and beyond the (IAEA's) mandate. There is no justification for it."

The U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are seeking to persuade Iran to accept an enrichment freeze under a plan of exporting Iran's enriched material abroad.

"That offer has been comprehensively rejected," warned British Prime Minister Gordon Brown late Monday. "So it is now not only right but necessary for the world to apply concerted pressure to the Iranian regime."

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama said in China there would be consequences if Iran would not demonstrate that its nuclear program was "peaceful and transparent" and has called for an answer to the U.N. deal by the end of the year.

Soltanieh responded saying that Obama's remarks would weaken the U.N. watchdog by casting doubt on its findings.

The agency stated that Iran had fully cooperated with the agency and inspections could continue, he maintained.

"The new Fordo site is a clear political message that neither U.N. Security Council sanctions nor the threat of military attack can stop (our) enrichment under full scope safeguards of the IAEA," Reuters quoted Soltanieh.