Small drones take off, but rules stall broad use
This week marks a milestone for the U.S. drone industry. A Federal Aviation Administration rule that went into effect Monday is the first to broadly authorize flying “small” (under 55 pounds) drones in the United States for commercial purposes. This means drone operations that comply with the rule’s flight restrictions — including generally traveling no higher than 400 feet, within visual line of sight and during daytime hours — can now benefit a range of industries in innovative ways.
This is welcome progress and long overdue. Despite U.S. leadership in the technological revolution, it’s playing catch-up on commercial drones. This is because there remain government-imposed roadblocks to operate drones commercially in the U.S.
On the bright side, in addition to the new rule, we have seen recent significant advancements. The White House held its first workshop on commercial drones earlier this month, where a broad range of commitments were made to move the industry forward. In May, industry and nonprofits agreed on a set of voluntary best practices for protecting privacy while operating drones.
But there’s still work to do. The U.S. is behind the rest of the world on drone adoption. Japan, for example, has been crop dusting with drones for decades. The handful of U.S. companies that are actually driving drone innovation have been forced to do so largely outside of our borders. Amazon is testing its own delivery operations in the United Kingdom. UPS will begin to use drones to deliver medical supplies in Rwanda later this year.
A few steps are critical if we expect to keep America competitive in the global drone industry.
First, the process for obtaining waivers under the new rule must be streamlined. Prior to this week, commercial drone operators must have received a special license in order to fly. That process moved at a snail’s pace, with some of the several thousand applications sitting in the FAA’s queue for over a year and never receiving a response.
Second, we need additional rules that broadly authorize safe flights above people, beyond visual line of sight and at night. Otherwise, critical drone operations that often must occur in these conditions — such as disaster response, news gathering or agriculture — will be stalled.
Third, government should expedite existing efforts to create a drone traffic management system and allocate spectrum for drone communications.
Finally, industry must do its part to advance commercial drone adoption. This means educating consumers on drones’ benefits and privacy issues. Some industry representatives, including the Commercial Drone Alliance, are already working on this. Public acceptance of the technology is a critical factor in drone policy. Industry should also innovate with an eye to safety: think perfecting collision-avoidance, geo-fencing (a virtual barrier that uses GPS positioning) and similar technology.
The FAA small drone rule is a major step forward. Hopefully government and industry will continue its work to see commercial drones safely and broadly integrated into our airspace.
In the meantime, register your drone, get your remotepilot certificate, and learn about the new rule and privacy best practices before you fly. While we are eager to move policy forward, we all can agree that safety and privacy protections are paramount.