Oklahoma City based DronePort Network (DPN) has entered into a contract with Osage LLC to develop and manage Skyway 36 near Tulsa. This facility, the company says, is “important in the Tulsa Regional Advanced Mobility (TRAM) Corridor project” and is “one of four planned operating nodes, connecting Oklahoma State University (OSU), Osage and Tulsa facilities within a 114-nautical mile flight corridor for Unmanned Aerial System and Advanced Air Mobility research and testing.”
DPN says in a press release that the facility features “nearly 2,300 square miles of Class G airspace available for flight testing; a hangar; office space; a runway; and helipad space for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVOTL) vehicles.”
“This facility is nationally unique due to its proximity to an urban downtown complex and its future operation as a primary node to the Tulsa Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Flight Corridor. The vision for Skyway36 is a commercial test bed for the integration of autonomous flight technology into our everyday lives”, said Craig Mahaney, CEO of the DronePort Network.
The press release reports further that the USD38.2 million TRAM project is funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better American Rescue Plan and anticipates “creating 30-40,000 jobs—the equivalent of USD3.5-5 billion in economic activity—over the first 2-3 years.
“The TRAM Corridor aims to attract and support growth in the advanced mobility space in Tulsa by:
- “Establishing a 114 nautical mile, Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) commercial flight corridor.
- Increasing R&D activity in the region
- Increasing the region’s skilled workforce
- Constructing a new industrial treatment facility”
For more information
https://www.droneports.org/pages/index.html
(Image: DronePort Network)