BVLOS drone flight means flying farther than the pilot can see the aircraft with their own eyes. That’s short for “beyond visual line of sight.” It generally requires an FAA waiver today. The FAA’s Part 108 rule is meant to normalize BVLOS operations without case-by-case waivers. It reached the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for final review on July 10, 2026. A published final rule is most likely in late 2026 or early 2027.
What does BVLOS actually mean?
BVLOS, or beyond visual line of sight, describes any drone flight where the pilot or a required visual observer can no longer see the aircraft unaided. Standard US drone rules require the pilot to maintain visual contact with the drone at all times. That caps how far and how usefully a drone can operate. Pipeline and power line inspection run into that limit quickly. So do long-range delivery and wide-area agricultural or infrastructure survey work.
Operators who need to fly farther than that today have to apply for an individual waiver from the FAA. That’s a slower, case-by-case process that Part 108 is designed to replace with standing rules.
What is the FAA’s Part 108 rule?
Part 108 is the FAA’s proposed rule for performance-based regulation of BVLOS operations at low altitude. That includes the third-party services, like UAS Traffic Management (UTM), that support them. Instead of requiring a waiver for every BVLOS flight, it’s meant to set standing operational and equipment requirements. Qualifying operators would fly under those requirements directly.
The rule had a long runway to this point. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the Federal Register on August 7, 2025. It drew nearly 3,100 public comments during its comment period.
What’s the current status, and when does it take effect?
The final rule reached the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review on July 10, 2026. That’s the last formal step before publication. OIRA reviews of significant rules like this one can run up to 90 days. That puts a published final rule most likely in late 2026 or early 2027. The FAA’s own internal tracking page has listed a “07/00/2026” target date. But agencies routinely miss internal targets at this stage, so that date shouldn’t be read as a hard deadline.
Who does this actually affect?
Commercial operators running inspection, delivery, agriculture, and infrastructure-monitoring drone programs stand to benefit most directly. Part 108 is built around exactly the use cases that hit a wall under today’s visual-line-of-sight default. Other countries have moved faster on similar rules. Canada’s own medium-drone BVLOS framework took effect in November 2025. Hobbyist and recreational flying isn’t the target of this rule. The practical effect will show up first in businesses that have been operating under individual BVLOS waivers, or that couldn’t justify the wait and cost of getting one.
Sources: Commercial UAV News on the OIRA review, Unmanned Airspace on the rule’s progress.
