Drone Industry Leaders Send President Trump a Letter

A gaggle of drone trade leaders together with advocacy teams like AUVSI, the AMA, and the Small UAV Coalition,  together with a lengthy record of corporations together with trade giants Intel, Verizon, UPS and Amazon together with producers DJI, PrecisionHawk, GoPro and others despatched a letter to President Trump final week.  In the letter, the authors ask President Trump  to assist to coordinate state and native drone legal guidelines.

“Innovation has been integral to America’s economic success and it will also play a crucial role in its future,” begins the letter. “A technology that shows great promise and tremendous benefits to continue moving our nation’s economy forward is unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), which is forecast to create more than 100,000 jobs and over $82 billion in economic impact over the next decade.”

The letter factors out that work will must be finished as a way to notice the potential of the drone trade – and expresses the trade’s willingness to collaborate with authorities.  The letter goes on to ask straight that the president assist to ascertain a program to coordinate state, native and FAA efforts to create drone legal guidelines.

“For months, we have advocated on Capitol Hill for a pilot program that allows state and local governments, along with UAS industry stakeholders, to develop a coordinated effort with the FAA concerning UAS airspace integration. We are pleased that your administration has also identified this as a sensible approach,” says the letter.

“A pilot program would allow for a data-driven process, within a controlled operational environment, to explore the best options for states and municipalities to address their needs, as it relates to different types of UAS operations. Additionally, a pilot program is the best option for informing future regulatory and congressional action that will help enhance innovation and increase economic impact.”

“Overall though, the FAA sovereignty of the national airspace must not be compromised. Federal control of the airspace is a bedrock principle of aviation law that dates back over 50 years, and is the primary reason the United States maintains an aviation safety record that is the envy of the world. Maintaining the FAA’s authority helps keep the skies safe for all aircraft – manned and unmanned.”

The letter is the newest response to the frequently rising downside of state and native drone laws, which proceed to proliferate regardless of the FAA’s efforts to ascertain management over laws and administrator Michael Huerta’s warnings that extra state and native drone legal guidelines will result in a complicated “patchwork quilt” of laws.

While each authorities and trade started with makes an attempt to ascertain FAA preemption, in current months the FAA has lately appeared to melt its stance, saying as a substitute that state and native governments ought to be a part of a collaborative course of.