US will soon allow compact drones to fly over persons and at night
29 December, 2020
Small drones will be allowed to fly over people and during the night in the US, the Government Aviation Administration said about Monday, on a step towards their use for widespread commercial deliveries.
The FAA said its long-awaited rules for the drones will address security concerns by requiring remote technology generally to allow their identification from the ground.
The rules will need effect 60 times after publication in the federal register in January.
Drone makers could have 18 months to begin producing drones with Remote ID, and operators could have another year to supply the technology.
There are other, more complicated rules that enable operations during the night and over persons for much larger drones in some instances.
"The brand new rules make method for the even more integration of drones into our airspace by addressing security and safety problems," FAA administrator Steve Dickson stated.
"They get us nearer to the day when we will more routinely find drone operations such as the delivery of packages."
Companies have already been racing to create drone fleets to increase deliveries.
The US has a lot more than 1.7 million drone registrations and 203,000 FAA-certificated remote pilots.
The FAA said drones must be equipped with anti-collision lighting for night flying.
The ultimate rules allow functions over moving vehicles in some circumstances.
Remote ID is required for all drones weighing 0.25 kilograms or even more, but is necessary for smaller drones under certain circumstances, such as flights over open-air assemblies.
The rules eradicate requirements that drones be linked to the internet to transmit location info however they must send Remote ID messages by radio frequency broadcast.
Without the change, drone use might have been barred from use in areas without access to the internet.
The Association for Unmanned Auto Devices International said Remote ID would work as "a digital licence plate for drones, which will enable more technical operations".
Use at night and over people "are important methods towards enabling integration of drones into our national airspace".
One change since the rules were primary proposed in 2019 requires that small drones not have any exposed rotors that could lacerate individual skin.
United Parcel Support said in October 2019 that it received the government's first total approval to use a drone airline.
This past year, Alphabet's Wing, a sister device of search engine Google, was the first company to get US air carrier recognition for a single-pilot drone operation.
In August, Amazon’s drone service received federal approval allowing the retailer to begin testing professional deliveries through its drone fleet.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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