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Image Source: Adobe Stock
The sky’s the limit in Romulus, Michigan’s evolving airspace – from drone-free to drone-ready.
Romulus, a 36-square-mile community about 20 miles southwest of Detroit, was once a drone-free area in proximity to the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), the state’s largest and busiest airport. The DTW property comprises 9 square miles of land within the Romulus city limits. When people fly into Detroit, their planes land in Romulus.
In 2023, city officials had conversations about implementing Advanced Air Mobility (AAM)
in Romulus. AAM is an umbrella term for a rapidly expanding sector of transportation using aircraft to move people and cargo. AAM uses uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), aka drones, as emerging innovations that can fly without requiring a pilot, control station, or onboard support equipment.
In 2025, the state of Michigan invested more than $42 million toward Advanced Air Mobility initiatives, according to a report from the state’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification. Michigan would like the state to be the top hub for testing and deployment of AAM by 2030.
Ultimately, the city of Romulus would like to become a UAS leader in Michigan.
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Leading the charge to UAS in Romulus made sense, considering the community’s reputation as a place for planes, trains, and automobiles. Besides DTW, Romulus is near two major railways, as well as other communities like Ann Arbor and Detroit.
Kevin Krause, director of Community Safety and Development for the city of Romulus, said the city wanted to “lean into allowing drones in Romulus airspace,” as it was an emerging technology the community would have to address.
The city partnered with Detroit-based Airspace Link to conduct a study to address safety factors and make a case with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to earn Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability clearance for air flight around DTW. Airspace Link’s UAS digital infrastructure tool, AirHub Portal – described as “Google Maps for the sky,” Krause said – examined air traffic in Romulus and around DTW property.
As part of Airspace Link’s UAS Readiness Assessment, the firm worked with seven city departments (Police and Fire, Building and Planning, Public Works, and others), to assess benefits and ways to use UAS in Romulus, including training drones for FAA Part 107 certification, buying drones, and installing sensors.
Romulus’ drone aspirations started small, as the altitude “you can fly into airspace was zero.” Because of the community’s proximity to DTW, the city asked the FAA to open “one block (of airspace) for the schools,” Krause said.
After a 90-day wait, the FAA denied the city’s request in an email. A day later, Krause got a call from Airspace Link informing him that the airspace on the north end and west side of DTW was open for drone flights for recreational and commercial use.
Today, drones are very visible in Romulus. Uses range from emergency response to mosquito-control inspections in the wetland areas around DTW.
“You can see a number of drones flying in and around the city,” Krause said.
Drone antennas can see real-time traffic, flight paths, and the location of UAS devices. The city has a drone policy that regulates drone usage and educates the community on how to fly them.
The city has hosted Friday Night Flight events at high school football games to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education and career pathways in unmanned aerial aviation for students. The Romulus Athletic Center also hosts a two-day drone competition in January and February with 32 schools participating.
Krause has started to see drone technology as a business recruitment tool throughout Romulus, with Amazon’s distribution capabilities, as well as other companies interested in drone delivery. He also sees a great chance to boost manufacturing in the area by working with the Detroit Region Aerotropolis board to encourage communication between suppliers when requesting parts that could be delivered to manufacturing plants within hours by drone instead of days using more traditional transportation methods.
Having a proof of concept in place – using drones in what would be considered a difficult airspace and working with other businesses to make it happen – places Romulus in an attractive position to bring in new opportunities.
In terms of workforce, increased drone usage will likely create future employment for people who can service and inspect unmanned aerial aircraft. For example, drones may need software updates, creating a potential new job opportunity that could lead to academic programs designed to provide technical skills.But the benefits of drones in Romulus are not limited to economic development and education. Quality-of-life challenges, such as noise and air pollution, and the preservation of green space can be addressed with virtually zero carbon emissions, Krause said.
AAM has been gaining ground in other parts of the country. Ontario, Calif., located east of Los Angeles, is home to the UAS Center at San Bernardino International Airport (SBD), which serves as a hub for drone innovation.
The airport itself provides guidance for drone operators on flying near SBD, including a link to the FAA Drone Zone webpage with instructions on requesting airspace authorization for recreational or commercial use. Airspace Link also partnered with Ontario to design safe and efficient drone delivery routes. The city was among the first to use the AirHub Portal platform to establish a digital drone highway.
Other areas of the country have been making use of UAS for the medical delivery market (expected to reach $32 billion by 2032, according to an article in AirMed & Rescue) has brought opportunities to reach patients living in rural areas, such as Smith Island on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, which normally has to rely on ferry service across Chesapeake Bay for residents to receive medication.
The University of Maryland’s Medical Delivery Pilot Program has partnered with DroneUp, a Virginia Beach-based technology company in the UAS space. In Oklahoma, AeroDyne has launched a drone delivery program for medical supplies.
From Romulus to rural Maryland, Advanced Air Mobility is moving quickly from pilot programs to practical infrastructure. Communities that start now — mapping their airspace, building regulatory relationships with the FAA, and investing in workforce readiness — will be the ones positioned to attract drone-dependent industries and deliver real quality-of-life improvements to residents.
