The Missing Layer of Drone Airspace | Mehrnaz Sabet

In this forward-looking episode of Hangar X, host John Ramstead sits down with Cornell PhD candidate and autonomy researcher Mehrnaz Sabet to explore one of the most critical challenges in aerospace today: scaling drone operations safely and efficiently.

Rather than framing autonomy as a replacement for humans, Mehrnaz introduces a powerful paradigm—collaborative autonomy—where humans and intelligent systems learn from each other to unlock entirely new operational capabilities. From search and rescue missions to dense urban drone delivery, this conversation dives deep into the infrastructure, AI, and coordination systems needed to support millions of drones in the sky.

The discussion also uncovers groundbreaking work from Project Orion (NASA-funded), real-time simulation environments that blur the line between physical and virtual testing, and the urgent need for next-generation traffic management systems.

If you're building, operating, or investing in the future of autonomous aviation—this episode is essential listening

Episode Highlights

The shift from “human-out-of-the-loop” to collaborative autonomy

How drones learn from human experts in high-stakes environments like search & rescue

Inside Project Orion and NASA-backed traffic management innovation

The hidden infrastructure problem blocking drone scalability

Real-time simulation: testing thousands of drones without leaving the ground

The role of synthetic data in training autonomous systems

Why interoperability and communication standards are the next big hurdle