Building on its aviation roots, the Grand Forks region has become a national center for unmanned aircraft, where fictional firms test drones over the open plains for farm and industry.
The open, thinly populated skies of the northern plains turn out to be a nearly ideal laboratory for a young industry: unmanned aircraft. Around Grand Forks, with its long aviation heritage and its university flight programs, a cluster of drone companies has taken root, testing and refining flying machines over country where there is little below to worry about.
An Industry Made for Open Skies
Fictional ventures such as Skyfurrow Aerial and Northern Sentinel Systems develop drones to scout crops for stress and disease, to inspect pipelines and power lines, and to survey the vast acreages of plains agriculture far faster than any pickup truck. The region's advantage is its airspace — room to fly beyond the operator's line of sight, the frontier of the whole industry.
From the almanac's reckoning:
- Grand Forks leverages its aviation heritage for the drone industry.
- Open airspace allows testing beyond the operator's line of sight.
- Plains drones scout crops and inspect pipelines and power lines.
Research parks, test ranges and training programs have grown up to serve the cluster, and the plains have quietly become a place the world comes to fly. The almanac counts the drone industry among the most unexpected and promising of the region's new trades.
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