FAA Mum on Why Rulemaking on Commercial Drones Has Been Delayed So Long
The Aerospace Industries Association is “not really comfortable speculating” why the Federal Aviation Administration’s rulemaking on small unmanned aircraft systems (SUASs) -- what many call drones -- has been delayed for so long, spokesman Dan Stohr told us by email Thursday, a day after AIA teamed with CEA on a joint letter urging the FAA to get the rulemaking moving (CD March 28 p16).
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The FAA signaled its intent to start a rulemaking on SUASs in 2008 when it “chartered” an “aviation rulemaking committee” to make recommendations on what proposed rules should look like, Stohr said. The committee, which was composed of 20 delegates from government, academia and the aviation industry, but no one from AIA or CEA, completed its work and issued 74 pages of comprehensive recommendations (http://1.usa.gov/QohiXx) on April 1, 2009.
According to Stohr, the FAA told the aerospace industry last year it would issue the rulemaking notice by year-end 2013. In January, the FAA said the rulemaking had slipped to at least this November, he said. Once the rulemaking notice is finally released, the FAA needs to allow for a substantial comments period before a final rule is drafted and sent on to the Office of Management and Budget for executive review, Stohr said: “This will take substantial time.” FAA representatives didn’t answer our queries Friday on why the committee’s recommendations have been on the shelf for five years with no agency action on a rulemaking.
As for the recommendations themselves, the rationales seem obvious for proposed safety rules. For example, the committee urged rules requiring an SUAS “pilot-in-command” (PIC) to establish communications with air traffic control and notify the airport manager if planning to operate within 10 nautical miles of an airport “with an operating control tower.” Moreover, SUAS operators “must yield the right-of-way to all other aircraft,” the recommendations urged. “Flight crews must assume that other pilots cannot see their aircraft and therefore the burden of maneuvering for potential collision risk shall be on the SUAS PIC,” they said. Other recommended rules seemed based on the same common sense that governs FAA rules pertaining to commercial flight crews. For example, they recommended barring anyone from acting as a crew member “within eight hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage.”
The recommendations are numerous and very specific for the rules governing the design of the SUASs themselves. The SUAS must be certified that it uses “appropriate technology to ensure reliability of communications control links and minimizes system vulnerability to radio frequency interference,” the recommendations say. When operating an SUAS in the 72-76 MHz band commonly used by model aircraft hobbyists, who would be exempt from any new rules, “the PIC must employ technology which ensures that there is no interference with Model Aircraft operations,” they said.
Other recommendations: (1) “No person may operate a SUAS that does not employ a technical mechanism which automatically executes a strategy to retain the aircraft in the intended operational area in the event of the loss of control.” This so-called “fly-away protection mechanism” must return the SUAS “safely to the surface, as soon as practical,” the recommendations said. (2) To promote “high visibility,” all SUASs under the regulation “must be colored with a high-contrast scheme,” they said. (3) All SUASs “must have the capability to descend 50 feet within five seconds of the PIC recognizing the need for an avoidance maneuver,” they said.
The recommendations envisioned classifying SUASs into four “groups” by weight and in-flight capability. SUASs in the lowest Group I would weigh 4.4 pounds or less, be constructed of relatively flimsy materials and would be slow-moving (30 knots or less), but their operations would be relatively free of locational restrictions. However, the top rung, Group IV, would include SUASs weighing up to 55 pounds. Because of their obvious mass, the PIC for safety’s sake must obtain a “letter of authorization” from the FAA “verifying that the planned area of operation can be considered uninhabited and extremely remote,” the recommendations said. The committee contemplated proposing rules for a fifth group of “lighter than air” SUASs, but declined to do so because it lacked the necessary expertise, its report said. - Paul Gluckman