09/18/2023 03:05:02 PMHave you ever wanted to fly a drone or learn about careers in drones? Would you like to see drones barrel racing at a Drodeo? Are you a drone pilot wanting more information about safety procedures or FAA regulations? Then make plans to attend “Droning On! Southwest Edition” Sept. 21 – 23, 2023, at Northern New Mexico College (NNMC) Center for the Arts, 921 N. Paseo De Onate, Española, N.M. This three-day event, hosted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Southwest Regional Office and Northern New Mexico College, is free and open to the public. “The FAA has a long, successful history of safely bringing new technologies into aviation. We are committed to safely integrating drones into our national airspace system,” said Rick Breitenfeldt, FAA spokesperson. “As of September 2023, there are almost 864,000 registered drones; of those, about 506,000 drones were identified for recreational purposes and 352,000 drones were registered for commercial purposes. To put this into context, there are more than three times as many registered unmanned aircraft as registered traditional aircraft. By 2026, we forecast that there could be up to 2.66 million commercial and recreational drones and more than 361,000 certificated remote pilots.”Arin McKennaDavid Lindblom, NNMC Associate Professor/FDMAdlindblom@nnmc.eduEvents