US allows small drones to fly over people and at night
Small drones will be allowed to fly over people and at night in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Monday, a significant step towards their use for widespread commercial deliveries.
Previously, small drone operations on people were limited to operations on people who were directly involved in the operation, located under a covered structure or inside a stationary vehicle – unless operators obtained an FAA waiver.
The rules will come into effect 60 days after their publication in the federal registry in January. Drone manufacturers will have 18 months to start producing drones with Remote ID, and operators will have an additional year to provide Remote ID.
There are other more complex rules that allow operations at night and over people for larger drones in some cases.
“The new rules pave the way for further integration of drones into our airspace by addressing safety and security concerns,” said FAA Administrator Steve Dickson. “They bring us closer to the day when we will see drone operations such as parcel delivery more regularly.”
Companies have fought to create fleets of drones to speed up deliveries. The United States has more than 1.7 million drone registrations and 203,000 FAA certified remote pilots.
For nighttime operations, the FAA has said drones must be fitted with anti-collision lights. The final rules allow operations on moving vehicles under certain circumstances.
Remote ID is required for all drones weighing 0.55 lbs (0.25 kg) or more, but is required for small drones in certain circumstances, such as flights over open air assemblies.
The new rules eliminate requirements that drones must be connected to the internet to transmit location data, but they broadcast identification messages remotely via radio frequency broadcast. Without this change, the use of drones could have been banned in areas without internet access.
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International said Remote ID will function as “a digital license plate for drones … which will allow more complex operations” while operations at night and above people “are important steps to enable the integration of drones into our national airspace. “
A change, since the rules were first proposed in 2019, requires that small drones do not have exposed rotating parts that would lacerate human skin.
United Parcel Service Inc said in October 2019 that it had obtained the first full government approval to operate a drone airline.
Last year, Alphabet’s Wing, a sister unit of the Google search engine, was the first company to achieve U.S. air carrier certification for single-pilot drone operation.
In August, Amazon.com Inc.’s drone service received federal approval for the retailer to begin testing commercial deliveries through its fleet of drones.
Walmart Inc said in September that it would launch a pilot for the delivery of groceries and household products via automated drones, but acknowledged “it will be some time before millions of packages are delivered by drone”.
