[h=1]FAA grants 76 waivers to new UAV rule on first day[/h]
Aug 29, 2016Aaron Karp
COMMENTS
FAA
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FAA approved 76 waivers to the new regulations for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operating commercially on just the first morning the agency’s small UAV rule, or Part 107, was in effect.
The waivers allow operators of commercial UAVs weighing less than 55 lbs. to operate beyond the restrictions of the regulations that went into effect Aug. 29, and demonstrate FAA’s willingness to be flexible with the new rule, FAA administrator Michael Huerta said. Part 107 “is a flexible framework,” he told reporters.
Huerta said FAA “estimates there could be as many as 600,000 unmanned aircraft used commercially during the first year after this rule is implemented,” and said the agency wants to enable commercial UAV operations as long as those operations can be conducted safely.
The Part 107 rule restricts commercial UAV users from operating beyond the remote pilot’s line of sight, from operating at night or from operating over people. Huerta said 72 of the 76 waivers issued on the rule’s first day involved night operations. The cable television network CNN was granted a waiver to operate UAVs over people, he said. The administrator said FAA is committed to “quickly” processing waiver applications.
FAA, in fact, is actively developing additional proposed rules that would enable commercial UAV operations over people and outside of the pilot’s line of sight. The over-people proposed rule is expected by the end of 2016, Huerta said.
He and US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx emphasized that the regulations that went into effect Aug. 29 are just part of a “staged process” to allow commercial UAV operations to “flourish,” so long as those operations are safe.
“This is not an isolated set of rules,” Foxx said. “This is part of a larger administration approach to finding the right balance between innovation and safety [regarding commercial UAVs] … We’re going to have to be more nimble and more flexible. That doesn’t mean our approach is going to be unsafe.”
Part 107 does not cover recreational UAV users, for which the rule has been criticized by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which issued a statement calling on “Congress to give the FAA the ability to fully regulate the hobbyists and recreational flyers.”
Foxx said FAA is continuing to work to “ensure people [operating UAVs recreationally] know the rules of the road,” such as avoiding restricted airspace. He pointed to FAA’s December 2015 implementation of a mandatory registry for operators of recreational UAVs weighing between .55 lbs. and 55 lbs., noting that it enables the agency to educate those signing up and gives authorities the ability to track down UAV operators who do not follow rules. “A byproduct of the registry is that consumers are getting to find out what the rules are,” Foxx said.
Huerta said over 530,000 recreational UAV users have registered with FAA.