The Mercatus Center at George Mason University completed a study on which states are ready for drone commerce and Oklahoma ranked number one out of all 50 states.
Countries around the world have commercial drone companies testing their products for agricultural, medical and home delivery services yet the U.S. has fallen behind due to complications between state and federal jurisdiction in drone and airspace management. States can create drone highways, which are aerial corridors above public roads, to open the opportunity for the drone industry and allow drone operations in low-altitude airspace while Congress and the FAA create federal regulations.
To better understand which states are most ready for commercial drone services, the study utilized six factors to score and rank the 50 states based on: airspace lease law; avigation easement law; task force or program office; law vesting landowners with air rights; sandbox (a designated place to test new technologies under liberal rules for a predetermined duration); and jobs estimate.
Out of the six criteria, Oklahoma was awarded all the available points in the categories of airspace lease law, task force or program office, law vesting landowners with air rights, and sandbox. In the jobs estimate category, our state lost only one point.
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