DronesFAA proposes rules for integrating drones into U.S. airspace

In an effort to integrate UAVs, or drones, into U.S. airspace, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans to allow small commercial drones weighing up to fifty-five pounds to fly within sight of their remote pilots during daylight hours, according to the agency’s proposal for governing commercial drone flights. The drones must remain below 500 feet in the air and not exceed 100 mph. Commercial drone operators must be at least seventeen years old, pass an aeronautics test at an FAA-approved knowledge testing center, and be vetted by the Transportation Security Administration.

For the commercial drone industry, the “proposed regulations are more reasonable than a lot of people feared,” but there are limitations that are concerning, said Brendan Schulman, head of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems practice at Kramer Levin. Limitations include the prohibition of night operations and line-of-sight requirements. According to Mashable, an operator may want to fly a drone behind a building, beyond line of sight, which could be safe in some circumstances. The

FAA proposal, however, would prohibit that use case.Additional provisions in the FAA’s proposal include:

• Small unmanned aircrafts may not operate over any persons not directly involved in the operation
• No person may act as an operator or visual observer (VO) for more than one unmanned aircraft operation at one time
• Operators must report an accident to the FAA within ten days of any operation that results in injury or property damage.

“We have tried to be flexible in writing these rules,” FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said. “We want to maintain today’s outstanding level of aviation safety without placing an undue regulatory burden on an emerging industry.”

The FAA has opened the proposal for sixty days of public comment, but industry experts believe the analysis of comments could take at least eighteen months before final rules are adopted. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International predicts a commercial drone industry will create 70,000 jobs with $13.6 billion in economic activity during the first three years commercial drones become fully integrated into U.S. airspace.

Several public agencies including local police departments have already received certificates for drone flights and since September 2014, the FAA has granted roughly twenty-eight waivers for commercial drones used by film production companies, and for bridge inspections and agricultural surveys. Hundreds of companies have already submitted applications for commercial drone licenses, and industry advocates warn that drone research could move overseas if the U.S. government fails to quickly accept the widespread use of commercial drones. Still, the FAA’s proposal has been positive for the industry.

“I think the biggest thing with this is that the FAA has done nothing that in any way has provided a disincentive for entrepreneurship, and that is probably one of the most, sort of larger aspects of this,” said Mark Dombroff, partner at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP and former head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s aviation litigation group.