FAA partners with industry on next steps in drone operations

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on Wednesday a partnership with industry to explore the next steps in drone operations beyond the type of operations the agency proposed in the draft small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) rule it published in February.

The FAA announced the framework of regulations on Feb. 15, proposing safety rules for small UAS (under 55 pounds) conducting non-recreational operations. The rule limited flights to daylight and visual-line-of-sight operations, and addressed height restrictions, operator certification, optional use of a visual observer, aircraft registration and marking and operational limits. The proposed rule also included extensive discussion of the possibility of an additional, more flexible framework for “micro” UAS under 4.4 pounds.

The FAA published the proposed rule for small UAS on Feb. 23 and received nearly 4,500 public comments by the end of the comment period on April 24. “The agency will work as quickly as possible, but must address all the comments submitted before finalizing the rule,” the FAA said in a press release on Wednesday. “The number and complexity of the comments will play a role in determining the timeline for a final rule.”

On March 31, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) sued the FAA for “failing to establish privacy rules for commercial drones as mandated by Congress.” The organization stated on its website that the FAA responded to EPIC’s petition in 2014, claiming that drone privacy implications “did not raise an immediate safety concern.”

FAA administrator Michael Huerta announced the latest partnership with industry on Wednesday at the Unmanned Systems 2015 conference in Atlanta, Ga.

Related: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approves USAA’s drone petition

The FAA said in a press release that it is working with industry partners on three focus areas, including:

• Visual line-of-sight operations in urban areas – CNN will look at how UAS might be safely used for newsgathering in populated areas;
• Extended visual line-of-sight operations in rural areas – this concept involves UAS flights outside the pilot’s direct vision. UAS manufacturer PrecisionHawk will explore how this might allow greater UAS use for crop monitoring in precision agriculture operations; and
• Beyond visual line-of-sight in rural/isolated areas – BNSF Railroad will explore command-and-control challenges of using UAS to inspect rail system infrastructure.

The three companies reached out to the FAA to work on research continuing to expand use of UAS in the nation’s airspace, the aviation administration reported.

“Even as we pursue our current rulemaking effort for small unmanned aircraft, we must continue to actively look for future ways to expand non-recreational UAS uses,” Huerta said in the press release. “This new initiative involving three leading U.S. companies will help us anticipate and address the needs of the evolving UAS industry.”

The proposed rule in February also included the following operational limitations, among others:

• A maximum airspeed of 100 miles per hour and a maximum altitude of 500 feet above ground level;
• At all times the small unmanned aircraft must remain close enough to the operator for the operator to be capable of seeing the aircraft with vision unaided by any device other than corrective lenses;
• Small unmanned aircraft may not operate over any persons not directly involved in the operation; and
• A minimum weather visibility of 3 miles from control station.

FAA’s new UAS Pathfinder Program is with @CNN @PrecisionHawk @BNSFRailroad #faaUAS #unmanned15 pic.twitter.com/xwNVE8aU4T

— The FAA (@FAANews) May 6, 2015

UAS flight demo! @AUVSIshow @Aversan_Aero #unmanned15 pic.twitter.com/cbToKW6MWm

— Danny (@ddAversan) May 5, 2015