(Courtesy: Wal-Mart)
After considering them for more than five years, the Federal Aviation Administration has finally released its first set of rules regulating the use of pilotless drones for commercial purposes.
The new rules come as dozens of high-profile companies — including Wal-Mart, Amazon, Google and others — seek to incorporate drones into everything from same-day package delivery to an easier way to conduct warehouse inventory.
Even the Canadian postal service has said it wants to use drones to deliver packages to its out-of-the-way customers.
Legal Commercial Drones
The FAA’s new commercial drone rules legalize drone use for many businesses that already use the vehicles for such task as making wedding videos to mapping out commercial real estate.
Under the new federal regulations, commercial drones under 55 pounds must be operated by a pilot who is at least 16 years old and who has successfully passed a written test. Plus, drones may only fly lower than 400 feet, can only fly during the day, and cannot be operated anywhere near airports.
The rules also prohibit drones from flying above people and from flying faster than 100 mph.
Federal Regulations vs State’s Rights
The federal rules are just the first step in regulating these high-tech flying machines. State and local governments have been making their own rules for years.
Along with its new regulations, the FAA has sent a letter to states and cities recommending that other government agencies follow their lead. But the FAA’s request has no legal requirements for governments to follow suit.
‘Line of Sight’ Rule
Also not included in the new rules is permission for companies like Amazon and Google to use drones for package delivery … at least not yet. The FAA’s new rules require that drone operators to always have their vehicles within their line of sight, which would preclude companies from using drones to deliver packages to customers many miles away from their distribution centers.
While drone makers and tech companies have been urging the FAA to create these rules for the past five years, the Obama administration has been careful in drawing up rules that would allow the popular remote-controlled flying devices into public airspace.
Last year, the FAA released its first rules regulating the use of drones by recreational users, requiring more than 450,000 hobbyists to register their drones with a government database before being allowed to use them legally.
Up until now, companies that wanted to use drones for commercial purposes had to apply for special permission from the FAA. More than 6,000 approvals have been issued, with another 7,000 companies on a waiting list for approval. As soon as these new rules go into effect in August, companies will no longer need to apply for a special exemption in order to use drones.