Robohub.org
 

Summary of the FAA’s proposed drone regulations


by
19 February 2015



share this:
photo: FAA

photo: FAA

This past Sunday the FAA held a conference call to announce its highly anticipated small UAS (sUAS) regulations. Sunday morning might strike as odd timing, however it’s likely that the timing had to do with the leak of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regulatory Evaluation, Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, which I wrote about here. Below is a summary of the critical aspects of the proposed regulations from the FAA summary (the proposed rules have not been made available at the time of writing).

Operational Limitations

  • UAS must be under 55lbs
  • UAS must be operated within visual line of sight
  • FPV is not permitted
  • Operator must not fly over people not involved in the operation
  • Daylight operations only
  • Maximum speed of 87 knots
  • Maximum altitude 500 feet AGL
  • A single person cannot act as an operator for more than one UAS operation at a time

Operator Certification and Responsibilities

  • Operators must pass an aeronautical test
  • Operators must obtain an sUAS operating certificate

Aircraft Requirements

  • Airworthiness is NOT required
  • Aircraft markings required

Model Aircraft

  • Proposed rule would not apply to model aircraft
  • Proposed rule would codify the FAA’s enforcement authority in respect of model aircraft operators who are endangering the safety of the national airspace

Some of the items that are not addressed in the FAA summary which I am particularly interested in are: (1) whether the proposed rules allow a single person to operate a fleet of drones within the same operation, and (2) what the TSA security clearance check will entail.



tags: , , ,


Diana Marina Cooper is Vice President of Legal and Policy Affairs at PrecisionHawk.
Diana Marina Cooper is Vice President of Legal and Policy Affairs at PrecisionHawk.





Related posts :



Livestream of RoboCup2025

  18 Jul 2025
Watch the competition live from Salvador!

Tackling the 3D Simulation League: an interview with Klaus Dorer and Stefan Glaser

and   15 Jul 2025
With RoboCup2025 starting today, we found out more about the 3D simulation league, and the new simulator they have in the works.

An interview with Nicolai Ommer: the RoboCupSoccer Small Size League

and   01 Jul 2025
We caught up with Nicolai to find out more about the Small Size League, how the auto referees work, and how teams use AI.

RoboCupRescue: an interview with Adam Jacoff

and   25 Jun 2025
Find out what's new in the RoboCupRescue League this year.

Robot Talk Episode 126 – Why are we building humanoid robots?

  20 Jun 2025
In this special live recording at Imperial College London, Claire chatted to Ben Russell, Maryam Banitalebi Dehkordi, and Petar Kormushev about humanoid robotics.

Gearing up for RoboCupJunior: Interview with Ana Patrícia Magalhães

and   18 Jun 2025
We hear from the organiser of RoboCupJunior 2025 and find out how the preparations are going for the event.

Robot Talk Episode 125 – Chatting with robots, with Gabriel Skantze

  13 Jun 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Gabriel Skantze from KTH Royal Institute of Technology about having natural face-to-face conversations with robots.

Preparing for kick-off at RoboCup2025: an interview with General Chair Marco Simões

and   12 Jun 2025
We caught up with Marco to find out what exciting events are in store at this year's RoboCup.



 

Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence


 












©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence