• 25 Feb 2021 05:20 PM
• 0

FAA’s Final Rule for Drones

On Dec. 28, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released its long-anticipated final rules for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The new rules will require remote identification of drones and allow operators of small drones to fly over people and at night under certain conditions. The FAA noted that these rules come at a time when drones represent the fastest-growing segment in the entire transportation sector — with currently over 1.7 million drone registrations and 203,000 FAA-certificated remote pilots. Remote ID provides identification of drones in flight as well as the location of their control stations, providing crucial information to our national security agencies and law enforcement partners, and other officials charged with ensuring public safety. Airspace awareness reduces the risk of drone interference with other aircraft and people and property on the ground, the agency said.

eVTOL.com noted that the FAA “appears to have determined that the drone industry is not yet ready for or in need of complex, scalable Internet-based unmanned traffic management (UTM) solutions envisioned by NASA and numerous industry actors. The FAA has instead opted for a simpler, less controversial and less capable approach to remote ID, eliminating the requirement for network-based transmission from its original proposed rule that was released last year. That document received more than 53,000 comments from the public and interested parties….”