How do you know when a state’s about to be conquered by the drone industry?  When its governor decides to name one of the state’s most forceful and outspoken drone industry advocates as head of its Department of Aviation.  It just happened in Oregon, with the appointment of Kenji Sungahara to a top state post formerly occupied by Betty Stansbury, who’s retiring in April after holding the job for the past three years.

Kenji is president and CEO of a non-profit organization representing drone service providers, owner and founder of a company that specializes in UAS research and policy, and co-owner of a company that provides drone services to the film and television industry.  His appointment portends a potentially radical shift in Oregon’s drone policy which has been moving, somewhat haltingly, in the direction of allowing drones greater freedom to operate statewide, with Kenji an outspoken advocate of that shift.

Kenji first caught the attention of Governor Tina Kotek last year when he proposed a solution to the state’s ongoing dispute over whether drones should be free to launch and land at will in Oregon’s state park lands.

It was a forceful and effective intervention at a time when drone industry advocates and conservationists had gone to war over the fate of nesting seabirds likely to be disturbed by expanded drone overflights in and around their coastal sanctuaries.

Kenii stepped in to propose that the state create a three-tiered system of drone access to the parks, with the most vulnerable nesting areas strictly protected, but other areas opened up to vastly expanded drone activities.  The compromiuse took hold and Kotek was so impressed that she decided to name Kenji to the state’s legislative advisory board for drone affairs.

In fact, Kenji is already widely known throughout the drone industry for his salutary role in the 2017 stakeholder discussions that led to the creation of Remote ID, which, when implemented later this year, will require all drone fliers to be immediately recognizable remotely through a broadcast technology code.  In 2021, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao named Kenji to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Drone Advisory Committee or DAC, the agency’s premier advisory board on drone technology and safety issues.  Even before his latest appointment in Oregon, Keniji was advising numerous state advisory committees nationwide on drone-related issues.

It’s not clear what new  policy agenda Kenji may bring to his role as Oregon’s new Aviation Director.  Oregon lacks much of the pro-active drone policy and regulatory support one finds in leading drone friendly states like Montana, North Dakota and Arkansas, and even neighboring Washington,  including drone flight test facilities and an executive-level office to promote tax incentives and other benefits to encourage drone industry development.

However, as Oregon’s Aviation Director, Kenji can be expected to play the same executive-level role while also seeking to integrate drones into the state’s existing air traffic management system.

Kenji’s appointment reflects the growing pressure on states to accelerate drone industry development in the face of rising competitive pressures from drone industries worldwide.  For Oregon’s drone fliers and for drone advocates everywhere, it’s a sign of great things to come.

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