Look to the Skies

To get a sense of the extent to which drones have captured the public imagination, look to the skies. In Folsom, Calif., more than 950 drones took to the skies earlier this month to create a glowing, real-world version of Time magazine's iconic cover, hovering 400 feet above the ground. "Up in the sky, I saw the future," a local resident told a local news station. In recent years, there have been no shortage of publicity-grabbing announcements involving unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)--just consider Amazon's headline-grabbing goal of drone-delivered packages. But reality is catching up with these long-stated aspirations and, through a combination of drone-friendly legislation and practical research, Virginia is poised to become a key player in determining how to make day-to-day drone operations a reality in a wide range of sectors.