Re:Not the first UAV wing.... or the last. (Score 1)

You correct about the ability to fly over Class E (uncontrolled) airports with no communication whatsoever on unicom. It is something that most people are not aware of when they think about flying, it is also something that I am constantly explaining to family members as we fly in to little airports.

The Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) system will do exactly what you are talking about, and it is part of the FAA and NASA's vision for the future of the National Airspace System (NAS).

I wrote my Masters on the replacement of VOR/DME approaches with RNAV/GPS approaches. One of the systems that was constantly coming up in my research was the ADS-B system and how it was proposed to change the NAS/ATC landscape.

The system uses two way radios--Mode-S transponders--to give pilots detailed information about the location of other planes, their altitude, direction, and intended destination. It is designed to decrease the work load for both ATC and the pilot by increasing situational awareness for a particular flight.

The FAA just awarded a 1.8 Billion dollar contract to to upgrade the aging national airspace system to ITT to start implementing the system. Of course the larger airlines will take advantage of the system first, largely in part to the cost of adding Mode-S to your aircraft. Not that it is expensive, rather that most pilots will not spend the money to make an un-required upgrade to their plane. There are still pilots out there shooting NDB approaches which are 40 years old.

On a note about your flights through and over potently restricted airspace; I live 10 miles north of NAS Pensacola, 15 miles West of Choctaw NOLF (UAV test ground), and 40 miles west of Eglin Airforce Base, which is ALWAYS restricted largely due to secret equipment and flight operations. ATC always controls the airspace at all time, I however have NEVER been asked not to fly through the corridor, and they usually are pretty quick to respond to any approaching traffic and give them a squawk code, I submit that the airspace over or near your airport is the exception not the rule when it comes to military restricted airspace.