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Unmanned NASA plane flies solo through public airspace

NASA has flown a large, remotely piloted aircraft equipped with detect-and-avoid technologies through the national airspace system for the first time without a safety chase plane following it.
NASA's remotely-piloted Ikhana aircraft, based at the agency's Armstrong Flight Research Center, is flown in preparation for its first mission in public airspace without a safety chase aircraft. (Photo: NASA/Carla Thomas)

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — NASA says Tuesday's flight over California moves the U.S. closer to normalizing unmanned aircraft operations in airspace used by commercial and private pilots.

The test used NASA's Ikhana, a non-military version of the Air Force's MQ-9 Predator B that is 36 feet (11 meters) long and has a 66-foot (20-meter) wingspan.

Controlled from Armstrong Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, Ikhana flew west into Class A airspace where airliners fly, north to Fresno and south through Class E general aviation airspace, including an approach to Victorville airport.

The flight required transfers among air traffic control facilities.

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