Federal regulations have never been a bigger part of my life.

As many of you may have heard, this week the Federal Communication Commission enacted regulations which classify internet carriers as utilities, and requiring them to behave in a certain manner.

They announced these rules and in a blink of an eye enacted them.

By contrast the Federal Aviation Administration has been dragging their feet in enacting regulations which would pave the way for the full scale commercial use of unmanned systems in the US. Recently the FAA also published the first part of their proposed regulations which would do just that. They won’t be pulling an FCC any time soon though, and enacting these regulations almost overnight. Today I’m going to give you my thoughts on what they have proposed, as well as all the information I can find on what the other parts of the regulation may look like when they are finally announced.

FAA Rules:

For UAS under 55 lbs AUW:

• Operator Certification: All aircraft operators must have a current, valid FAA Unmanned Systems Operator Certificate. This does not require a full or regular pilot’s license of any sort.
• Permission: Overflights by a commercial entity cannot be conducted without the permission of the land owner.
• Altitude: Aircraft must remain under 500ft above ground level and out of “transponder airspace” (areas that legally require you to announce yourself to ground control, usually above populated areas, but ground to 500ft is also allowed  almost everywhere except near airports.).
• Eyes on: Aircraft operator must keep the aircraft within visual range at all times.
• There is no requirement for “100% full manual control”. That is, it seems that autonomous flight is allowed, but not beyond visual range.

These operational guidelines are pretty relaxed compared to some proposed variations that have circulated over the last few years. This is the first of what people believe will be 3 general classes of commercial licenses for unmanned systems. Another class will be for aircraft with less than 4.4 lb all up weight (DJI Phantom class). These will likely not require any special operator certification. Otherwise it will follow the above rules for altitude, permission and visual flight rules. The under 55 lb is the middle of the three classes. The higher end class or classes are currently not fleshed out on the FAA end. They will likely allow higher weights Or autonomous flight modes beyond visual range, and will also allow for the use of “optionally manned” type features for full size aircraft already being sold. It’s highly likely they will require some very costly and as of yet unreleased collision avoidance technology to be integrated.

At a minimum this likely means UAS specific models of ADS-B collision avoidance GPS units that are already being implemented in the US and Europe. This device allows an aircraft to detect its own position from GPS and then broadcast it to nearby aircraft. This would be incorporated with a receiver which is able to tell the autopilot about a potential collision and together with the transmitter, the human pilot and the autopilot can self-separate without the need for ground control intervention. The aircraft will also likely have FAA airworthness or experimental certification requirements at some levels within these classes, mostly dependent on the all up weight. Implementing the requirement that aircraft use this system is currently the biggest headache for the FAA, and it’s much more serious than the UAS regulations as it impacts business which are already up and running. Adding another layer of complexity to the implementation of this system is unwise, which is why we will likely not see any of these “higher end” classes opening up until the ADS-B issue is sorted in the national airspace.

Major Take Away Points:

1. All Academic UAS that falls under this scope will be fully above board in the eyes of the FAA when flying in the United States. Previously, University UAS operations in the US (including our own) were flying under hobbyist exemptions when operating in the US, and had some very quirky limitations.
2. There are clear guidelines to be followed at a federal level. In the (current) absence of state legislation, the FAA rules should prevail. Previously, we have shied away from operations that should be legal but are likely to draw high levels of public attention or “cause a stir”. As long as we follow guidelines, these projects could be undertaken now.
3. There will need to be a program for training/certifying UAS pilots at the University level, if we desire to continue pursuing UAS as an institution. The currently announced FAA guidelines require an operator certification. It’s unclear how burdensome this will be to obtain, but one of the supposed models for this aspect legislation is the Model Aeronautical Association of Australia (MAAA), where UAS certifications are not particularly burdensome to obtain (like an amateur radio license, which is another requirement for this work). However, this will likely require some level of formal training, even if it’s a few nights of studying a test guide.