Part III Of A LinkedIn Series By Mike Richards
Based on Drone America’s 16 years of real-world experience in the UAS industry
Aviation is evolving fast. Once the exclusive domain of trained pilots, the skies are now shared with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), onboard autonomy, and AI-driven decision-making. And yet, one of the most misunderstood parts of this evolution remains: the role of real-world flight testing.
Decades of aviation safety were built on rigorous validation, redundancy, documentation, and repeatable outcomes. That legacy has made commercial air travel one of the safest forms of transportation. But when applied without adaptation to unmanned systems, those same processes can unintentionally become a brake on innovation.
UAS platforms are different. They’re modular, software-defined, and highly mission-specific. Their success depends not just on engineering precision but on how they perform in the field with operators, real wind, real temperatures, and real consequences.
Simulations and improving all the time and are essential, but they’re not enough. They help us prepare. They help us predict. But they do not always reveal how systems will behave under real-world stress, weather unpredictability, signal interference, or hardware degradation over time.
One of the most dangerous assumptions in this industry is mistaking size for simplicity. Just because some drones appear small (DA’s not so much) or resembles a toy this doesn’t make it less complex or less capable of doing harm if it fails. Whether it weighs 5 / 55 lbs. or above it is still an aerospace system, therefore it must be treated as such.
Testing is not a barrier to progress. It is the progress. We earn reliability through disciplined iteration, bench tests, field evaluations, operator training, and rigorous post-flight analysis. Real safety is never granted by design alone. It’s earned through repetition, scrutiny, and humility.
As technology advances, so must our test culture. Our industry needs fewer shortcuts and more discipline. Fewer assumptions, more preparation. If we want unmanned systems to share the skies with crewed aircraft, they must be built and proven to the same standard.
Up Next: Automation Is Not Autonomy
