Drone Biz luncheon focuses on beyond-line-of-sight rules

Better Business Bureau warns of scam targeting schools, nonprofits

By Kayla Prasek

With initial approval to fly unmanned aerial systems beyond line of sight coming from the Federal Aviation Administration in December, the Northern Plains UAS Test Site is now working on the final steps necessary to make flying beyond line of sight a reality.

Nick Flom, executive director of the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, spoke about what this means for the UAS industry and his hopes for the future at the Feb. 9 Drone Biz luncheon, held at the Red Roof Inn TownHouse in Grand Forks and hosted by the Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corp.

On Dec. 23, the Northern Plains UAS Test Site received approval from the FAA to fly UASs beyond line of sight, becoming the first in the nation to receive such approval. It was a process that started in September 2015 when Grand Sky, a UAS business and technology park located adjacent to the Grand Forks Air Force Base, was trying to bring on General Atomics as a tenant.

“Visual line of sight works out for a lot of uses,” Flom said. “But then there’s a lot of other uses that don’t work out, like a power line inspection. For those uses, extended visual line of sight was established, and you either have visual observers on the ground every half mile or you use a chase plane with a visual observer seated next to the pilot. But then we have businesses like the ones Grand Sky has attracted who want to fly without a chase plane.”

The FAA approval the Northern Plains Test Site received is a groundbased sense-and-avoid approval and is only for General Atomics’ Predator A aircraft. Before General Atomics will be allowed to fly beyond line of sight, it will have to do test flights with a chase plane to prove the operational plan works.

But before the company can get to that point, there’s one more barrier that must be crossed. A radar system from the Grand Forks Air Force Base is a pivotal part of this plan, and a feed from the radar to Grand Sky needs to be installed. The test site is working through the final steps with the Air Force, and Flom said he expects that approval in the first half of 2017.

Once that’s in place and General Atomics is flying beyond line of sight, Flom has more goals he hopes to achieve. “We want other aircraft to be able to fly beyond line of sight, and we want to be able to expand where they’re able to fly. My vision is to connect with these radars in Fargo, Minot and Bismarck as well some day.”

Flom’s final goal is to figure out how small UASs can benefit from this as well. “We know they’ll need some type of radar to see air traffic below 10,000 feet, so we hope they’ll be able to use the lessons learned from flying above 10,000 feet.” PB

Kayla Prasek

Nonprofit organizations and school districts are the new targets of a scam that had been geared exclusively toward private-sector businesses, according to the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota. The “W-2” scam, as the IRS calls it, is carried out by email, requesting a list of the company’s W-2 forms, employees’ dates of birth and Social Security numbers.

The emails are disguised to look like they originated from top executives or business colleagues, the BBB warns. It’s believed the information is collected through the phishing scam with the intent to file fraudulent tax returns.

“Criminals are now focusing on consumers’ personal information because it has a potentially much larger payout than run-of-themill credit card fraud,” says Susan Adams Loyd, president and CEO of Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota, in a statement.

Recently, the scam also has included a follow-up email asking for a wire transfer to an account outside of the company, according to the BBB. Beyond nonprofits and schools, the new targets of the scam include health care providers, chain restaurants, temporary staffing agencies, tribal casinos and delivery companies. A Twin Cities school district recently fell victim to the scam, BBB reports.

The BBB says the emails might contain wording such as “Can you send me the updated list of employees with full details (Name, Social Security Number, date of birth, home address and salary)” or “Kindly send me the individual 2016 W-2 (PDF) and earnings summary of all W-2 of our company staff for quick review.”

The BBB suggests these measures to avoid W-2 theft:

• Re-evaluate workplace procedures: The simplest way for criminals to run these operations is if a business lacks the checks and balances necessary to protect employees’ and clients’ information and requests for money transfers by untraceable means.

• Meet with all employees: Make sure all employees understand how these schemes work.

• Review written policies: Implement organizational policies to prevent the W-2 and similar office scams from succeeding. This will not only help existing employees, but others who join the organization so they, too, will be on their guard. PB