Grand Sky launches weather center

U.S. Senator John Hoeven will make a stop in Grand Forks and Grand Sky on Tuesday to see first-hand the nation’s first drone-based weather forecasting tool.

Grand Sky is teaming up on a weather drone that will fly up to 16,900 feet to collect six weather data points ranging from temperature and barometric pressure to winds aloft to help support unmanned operations.

Grand Sky President Tom Swoyer says general…commercial…and military aviation have fine weather programs but there needs to be another “level of granularity” to support unmanned operations.  He says understanding the weather picture is crucial for continued long-distance aircraft flights.

The collaborative effort includes the Swiss-based Meteomatics and TruWeather Solutions along with flight operations at the Northern Plains UAS Test Site and the 319th Reconnaissance Wing.