Concerns in the Drone Industry Over Regulation Reduction

The order put a limit on each agency’s regulatory ability through the annual budget, with the addition that any new regulations must be balanced through the repeal of at least two old ones. The UAV industry currently seeks more federal rules, and this order is seen as slowing down that chance.

Until the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) develops comprehensive regulations to govern the use of UAVs, flights of commercial drones are restricted in airspace shared with passenger planes. 

In August last year, the first regulations from the FAA took effect, allowing flights of drones weighing up to 55 pounds without the previous requirement of a case-by-case review, with an approved height of 400 feet in uncrowded areas, within visual line of sight (VLoS) of the pilot. Since then, the FAA has been developing rules for flights over more people, flights with the aircraft farther away than the pilot can see and flights at night. These are provisions seen as crucial for uses such as deliveries, and utilities and agriculture inspections.

The proposed rule for flying over people had been expected to take effect in December, but that didn’t happen. A new expected date is not yet known.

While many people would welcome fewer regulations to make their lives and jobs easier, they can be useful in helping to define what is and isn’t allowed, which is especially useful for a burgeoning technology such as UAVs and where legal clarity is required to future innovation. Flying over people is seen as necessary for future deployment of drones in a varied areas.