Letting drones fly

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This article was published 21/02/2015 (4025 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Like driverless cars, pilotless aircraft promise to be a huge business if regulatory obstacles can be overcome. This week, after years of delay, the Federal Aviation Administration came out with its draft rules for commercial drones in America. Although the proposed regulations are not as draconian as some had feared, unmanned aircraft will continue to have their wings clipped.

There had been worries that the F.A.A. would require drones to undergo an expensive and lengthy process to be certified as airworthy, as happens with manned aircraft, and/or that the person on the ground operating the drone might need a pilot’s license. Instead the agency is proposing that drones weighing less than 55 pounds, as long as they are well-maintained and checked before flight, be flown without certification by operators who have passed a basic aeronautical test. The drones would have to stay below 500 feet, however, fly only in daylight and remain in view of their operators at all time. They could not be flown over people.

This is a “good first step,” said the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems, a lobbying group. It would allow, say, a real-estate agent to take aerial photographs of a house being put up for sale, or a farmer to survey a crop for signs of disease, and to do so for much less than hiring a helicopter. Not being allowed to fly over crowds, however, might prevent television companies from filming sporting events with drones.

The need to keep a drone in sight also makes it hard to do long-distance flights, such as to inspect pipelines in remote areas. Amazon said that this requirement also would prevent it starting the drone-delivery service it is working on. The e-commerce firm already has moved some of its work on drones to parts of Europe where regulations are looser.

F.A.A. administrator Michael Huerta said that the rules will “evolve” as drones, and the businesses around them, develop. As collision-avoidance technology improves and operators gain more experience, it is possible to imagine the agency eventually permitting longer-range, out-of-sight flights.

First, though, its current proposals must undergo a lengthy period of public comment before being finalized, which could take until 2017.

In the meantime drone operations in other countries are getting airborne. D.H.L., the German logistics firm, has begun delivering medicine and other urgent supplies to Juist, a small island 7.5 miles off the German coast. It is the first drone-delivery service operating beyond line-of-sight in Europe.

Such developments will continue to frustrate American drone operators who are keen to take off. Some operate without permission, reckoning that the F.A.A. lacks the resources to catch them. With some small drones now costing less than a few hundred dollars, the technology is moving faster than regulators.

Partly for that reason the F.A.A. already is considering a looser set of rules for drones that weigh less than five pounds.

– The Economist