The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has at long last finalised the first safety rules governing the use of small commercial drones in order to potentially open up new opportunities for business and government, but the new rules would make a delivery service like that envisioned by Amazon very hard to achieve.
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The new drone rules, which will take effect in late August, apply to unmanned aircraft weighing 55 pounds or less with a limited flight altitude of up to 400 feet and speed up to100 miles per hour. The long-anticipated rules mean drone operators would be able to fly without special permission. “Beyond that, the operations that are defined in the rule are operations that can be conducted as of right, and if (operators) desire to look at things beyond visual line of sight, for example, then they go through the new waiver process that is defined in the rule”.
Simply put, people will no longer have to obtain a pilot’s license in order to send their drones into the sky, according to The Verge.
The new rules keep the existing limitations that commercial drones may only fly during daylight, must stay below 400ft, and can weigh no more than 55 pounds. The new regulations also address height (no more than 400 feet) and speed (no more than 100 MPH) restrictions and other operational limits, such as prohibiting flights over unprotected people on the ground who aren’t directly participating in the UAS operation. It does note that waivers are available to operators who can demonstrate that what they’re doing is safe.
“We are part of a new era in aviation, and the potential for unmanned aircraft will make it safer and easier to do certain jobs, gather information, and deploy disaster relief”, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.
A hexacopter drone is flown during a drone demonstration at a farm and winery on potential use for board members of the National Corn Growers, Thursday, June 11, 2015 in Cordova, Md.
– FAA completes landmark rules for commercial drones – USA Today – Rules are FAA’s first attempt at comprehensive plan governing unmanned aircraft systems. The minimum age for commercial operators would be 16. The operator has to be 16 years or older, and pass a knowledge test and TSA background check to get drone operation approval on a remote pilot certificate. It establishes a clear regulatory framework and helps to reduce many barriers to civil and commercial operations, allowing anyone who follows the rules to fly in the national airspace. This department is working cooperatively with industry, and as part of our staged integration process, we certainly see the benefit of this. “What we need to see is that it can be done safely”.
While legal experts and industry players are pleased with the FAA’s decision to approve commercial drone operations, they are eager to work with regulators to relax the restrictions on nighttime flying, operations beyond line-of-sight, and flights that take place over people.
EPIC filed suit against the FAA after more than 100 groups and experts petitioned the agency to conduct a rulemaking on drone privacy.
Drone flights will be permitted during the day.
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Model aircraft operators must continue to satisfy all the criteria specified in Section 336 of Public Law 112-95 (which will now be codified in Part 101), including the stipulation they be operated only for hobby or recreational purposes. Pilots and others reported to FAA seeing drones 1,346 times from November 2014 through January 2016.
