Drone Industry Concerned Trump Reg Freeze May Further Delay Critical FAA Flight Rule
The Federal Aviation Administration's delay in releasing proposed regulations for drone flights over people, which was expected at the end of December, now is seen as caught up in President Donald Trump's sweeping order to suspend new federal regulations. Some in the commercial drone community are worried any further postponement could adversely affect the industry's growth.
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Hogan Lovells attorney Lisa Ellman said there's concern that "very broad-stroke policies like no regulations ... even if it's unintended by the administration, could impact the drone community in a very negative way." She said the Trump administration talked about creating jobs, boosting the economy and promoting technology and innovation, "and all of this fits into exactly what he’s trying to do. But in order to do that, we need new rules."
Florida aviation lawyer Jonathan Rupprecht, a commercial pilot and flight instructor, said, on average, a rule takes about a year and a half to two years to take effect from the date it's published in the Federal Register. "A lot of people ... are going to be frustrated because they are unable to actually fly over people," he said. The process to vet the rules will have to go through the Department of Transportation, Office of Management and Budget and OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which will consume time, he said.
“While reducing redundant regulation can be beneficial to industry, in the case of the UAS industry, continued investment in innovation and advanced operations requires the FAA to move aggressively on rules to promote U.S. leadership based on clear, progressive, and risk-based regulation," emailed Akin Gump senior policy adviser Michael Drobac, who represents the Small UAV Coalition. "With technology, freezes and delays are only obstacles to job creation and the power of U.S. innovation. Unmanned aircraft operations over people are essential to fulfilling the great promise this exciting aviation technology will provide across many sectors of the economy.” Unmanned aircraft systems, unmanned aerial vehicles and drones sometimes are used interchangeably. The FAA and White House didn't comment.
"In the case of the commercial drone industry, new regulations are very welcome by everyone because they enable new types of operations that are currently prohibited," emailed Brendan Schulman, vice president-policy and legal affairs for dronemaker DJI. "We all hope the new Administration gives the green light to the rulemaking plan the FAA has been working on."
Hours after Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus issued a memo saying no regulation should be sent to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) until a department or agency head, or another delegated official, reviews and OKs the regulation. It said any regulation sent to OFR but not published should be withdrawn immediately and reviewed, and those published in the Federal Register that haven't taken effect should be temporarily postponed for 60 days, until about mid-March. The memo allows for exceptions such as emergency situations related to health, safety or financial or national security.
The FAA was supposed to release the proposed rule for drone flights over people by the end of December. Ellman said that rule is critical in areas like disaster response, construction sites, inspections and news gathering. Early this month, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said at CES (see 1701060062) that the rule's release was delayed because the interagency effort was still addressing safety and security issues. "As drone flights over people become more and more commonplace, imagine the challenge of a local police officer at a parade trying to determine which drones are properly there to photograph the festivities -- and which may be operated by individuals with more sinister purposes," he said in his speech posted on the FAA website. Reconciling such issues is taking time, he said.
Currently, only CNN has an FAA waiver, approved in November and effective through August 2020, to do drone flights over people with strict weight, speed and altitude requirements. For instance, a drone can't operate "over open-air assemblies of human beings" and it must be conducted over "private or controlled-access property" with legal permission from a person, according to the waiver. Also, prior notice must be given to people within that property that a drone may fly over them, it said.
The drone industry believes the rule is critical to advance the technology, but Rupprecht said flying over people isn't as necessary for a lot of drone operations. He said rules on nighttime operations and flying beyond the visual line of sight may be more beneficial, but those may take three years or more. Ellman, who's also co-executive director of the Commercial Drone Alliance that includes CNN and DJI among its 16 members, said her industry group met with the Trump transition team and had a "great conversation" and provided a policy paper. As with Congress and policymakers, she said industry needs to educate the administration about the potential for the industry.