UPDATED 06:11 EDT / JUNE 21 2016

NEWS

Ready for takeoff: FAA set to announce commercial drone rules this week

Drones for commercial use are set to get the go ahead at long last this week, as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prepares to introduce new regulations governing their use. Don’t get too excited just yet though, as the new regulations are likely to limit flights to daytime only, and the drones must always remain in the line of sight of operators, reports say.

The Wall Street Journal says the FAA is set to publish the new rules later today. However, it warns that not everyone will be pleased, with the FAA set to ignore pleas to allow drone use during night time, and out of the operator’s line of sight.

The move comes after the FAA proposed a set of draft rules back in February 2015. Those regulations were not universally applauded however, as they proposed that commercial drones should be restricted to a maximum weight of 55 pounds (25kgs), and a maximum flight altitude of 500 feet, in addition to the rules on remaining in an operator’s line of sight and flying in daytime only.

Last month, FAA administrator Michael Huerta said he hoped to finalize the much-delayed rules before the end of spring. “By late spring, we plan to finalize Part 107, our small UAS rule, which will allow for routine commercial drone operations,” Huerta said at the time.

One of the biggest critics of the FAA’s proposed rules is Amazon.com, Inc., which has famously set in motion plans to create delivery drones as part of its Prime Air delivery service. Amazon believes the FAA’s guidelines are restrictive, and argued last year that the rules should “specifically permit the operation of multiple small UAS by a single UAS operator when demonstrated that this can be done safely.”

While the FAA is unlikely to bend now, there’s hope for Amazon yet. In May, the FAA announced it was establishing a long-term advisory committee led by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich to help integrate drones into U.S. airspace, which means whatever rules it announces are likely to evolve as time goes by and the likes of Amazon can prove it’s possible to operate drones out of the operator’s line of sight in safety. Indeed, the FAA has already shown its flexibility by permitting some experimental drone flights.

The FAA does have to maintain a bit of a balancing act, however, due to privacy concerns raised by civil rights groups and legislators.

Image credit: Craigalance via pixabay

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