Summary: The government rules went into place Monday morning restricting but allowing commercial use of drones.
Drones have been a controversial issue in the news and legal world lately. American businesses have been pushing for regulations to be set in place so that they can take advantage of the technology for a variety of uses such as agriculture, delivering packages, filmmaking, and more.
A set of federal drone rules were rolled out Monday allowing businesses to use drones in a limited manner. More rules will be written by the government to allow for even greater use of commercial drones.
Read Google Announces Drone Delivery Service: Project Wing to Be Available in “Less than a Decade”.
The rules regard commercial-purpose drones weighing up to 55 pounds total. The drones can only be used during the day and can only be flown over someone related to the flight. The drone can fly up to an altitude of 400 feet, must stay within visual contact of the operator, and can reach up to 100 miles per hour.
The pilot of the drone does not have to have a pilot’s license. They must pass an aeronautical knowledge written test. The study guide for the test for 80 pages long and covers a range of topics such as how temperature and humidity affect air conditions and proper radio procedure.
As of Monday morning when the rules went active, the Federal Aviation Administration had 3,000 requests for licenses.
The biggest restriction is the “beyond-line-of-sight” regulation meaning companies can’t implement on-demand drone deliveries yet. These companies can apply for special testing waivers to allow them to go beyond the normal rules. They have given 76 of these waivers out so far with 72 of them for flying at night.
See Amazon Plans to Deliver Packages by Drones.
The FAA is also running Pathfinder, an experimental program to learn how companies like CNN and related companies can fly drones over people and in beyond-line-of-sight operations.
There are privacy guidelines to go along with the rules, including not being allowed to fly over private property without prior permission.
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To learn more about drones, read Combat Drones Soon To Fly Over U.S. Airspace.
Photo: millenialmagazine.com