The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has released a long-awaited final regulation allowing for the commercial, non-recreational use of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)—popularly known as drones—weighing less than 55 pounds. The Part 107 regulation, which takes effect in late August, permits daylight-only flights that remain within the visual line of sight of the drone operator. Beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations and flights over people will require waivers to the rule.
Speaking during a White House-led teleconference on June 21, secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta described a regulation that differs slightly from the draft rule the FAA released in February 2015. Among differences, the draft rule specified that commercial drone pilots would have to be at least 17 years old, and it set a maximum operating altitude of 500 feet above ground level. Part 107 reduces the required age of the pilot to 16 and the maximum altitude to 400 feet. Unlike the draft rule, the final regulation allows for operations during “civil twilight” if the drone is equipped with anti-collision lighting that is visible for at least 3 statute miles—and it states that the prohibition of nighttime operations “will also be waivable.”
Similarly, there is the possibility of obtaining an exemption, or waiver, for BVLOS operations and flights over people who are not directly participating in the operation—capabilities that could be important for proposed package delivery and other applications of small drones. “The rule allows for a waiver process” Huerta said. “What the applicant will need to do is demonstrate how we can maintain safety and what mitigations they put in place for those sorts of operations.”
Part 107 does not contain a separate micro UAS classification for drones weighing less than 4.4 pounds, a possibility that was raised in the draft rule. “[T]he FAA has determined that a different framework to regulate micro UAS is called for,” the regulation states; it adds that the agency “is moving expeditiously” to produce a separate draft regulation.