A big business coalition group gave qualified praise to the Federal Aviation Administration for not requiring commercial drone aircraft operators to have a regular pilot’s license, a decision certain to help spur the use of the new technology in private enterprises like agriculture and package delivery. Other proposed requirements by the FAA were still too restrictive though, said the group, which calls itself the Small UAV Coalition.
The FAA had previously considered requiring operators of drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, to obtain a regular pilot’s license, which requires a minimum of 40 hours of training in a manned plane. Advocates of drone usage said that would be too restrictive and retard the technology’s growth. In a set of draft rules for drones posted Sunday, the FAA agreed.
Instead, the drone operators would have to obtain a special drone usage certification by passing an aeronautics test. Drone usage would be limited; the devices must remain below 500 feet in the air, and in the operator’s line of sight, and they would not be allowed to fly over people not directly involved in its use.
“We have tried to be flexible in writing these rules,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. “We want to maintain today’s outstanding level of aviation safety without placing an undue regulatory burden on an emerging industry.”
The Small UAV Coalition applauded the FAA, agreeing that the new rules were a “flexible framework.” The coalition includes several aeronautics companies as well as Google and Amazon.
In a statement, the coalition said the proposed framework “appears to be risk-based, as we have advocated, and focused on the technological capabilities of UAVs, rather than simply adapting a set of rules from those currently governing manned aircraft.” It particularly praised dropping the pilot license requirement.
The group nevertheless said the other parts of the rules, especially the line-of-sight requirement and the prohibition on flying drones over people not involved in their use, were too restrictive.
“Until small UAVs are able to go beyond the line of sight, we are not maximizing the technology as other countries already do,” the coalition said.
The FAA is now in the public comment phase. The regulations are set to be finalized next year.
