More than 3,300 had signed up to take the test on Monday, the first day it was available, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration estimates the number of drone operators-for-hire may exceed the nation’s 171,000 private pilots within a year. In general, the new rules apply to drones weighing 55 pounds or less, and require commercial operators to keep the drone within sight at all times and limiting operations to the hours from a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset. For example, the drone can not be flown during the day or above 500 feet.
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Without that hurdle, Cooper says, drone operators need only prove they passed an FAA aeronautical knowledge exam and meet an age requirement of 16 before going ahead with flying a commercial drone.
The space agency’s project is to set up small drones set to fly under 500 feet. The FAA granted 76 waivers Monday – 72 for night flights and a few for experimental programs such as CNN’s news-gathering over people and BNSF Railway’s inspections farther away than the pilot can see, Huerta said.
The FAA says the interest in using the using the unmanned aircraft systems is high.
“The United States has been a pioneer in aviation since the Wright Brothers first took to the skies more than 100 years ago, and throughout that period there have been many, many milestones”, Wynne said.
The airline pilots also urged regulation of hobbyists, which Congress exempted from the rules for commercial drones.
Aeronavics engineer Coenraad Brand flies one of the company’s drones in a paddock in New Zealand.
Denny said it’s up to the drone pilot to be ethical and use common sense.
See Amazon Plans to Deliver Packages by Drones.
“The economic impact of the rule is clear”, Anthony Foxx, U.S. Secretary of Transportation said at a news conference Monday.
Co-owner of Farming Unlimited, Heather Newell, uses drones for her company.
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More than 530,000 people have joined the registry, Huerta said.
