commercial drone regulations

Small business owners and representatives of the drone industry testified before a Congressional subcommittee about the FAA’s efforts to move commercial drone regulation forward. Speaking before the House Small Business committee, representatives from the FAA, AUVSI, the Small UAV Coalition, airports, and others testified about the need for sensible regulation to support …

The FAA says that it requires about 20 hours of study to pass the Part 107 test.  By all reports, the test is not an easy one – but those willing to put in the time can certainly be successful.  DRONELIFE published a list of study guides and courses earlier – …

Ohio-based Tremco Roofing & Building Maintenance announced that its SkyBEAM unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has completed the first Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-approved night flight, to inspect rooftops at a southern Ohio business. More than 2.3 million square feet of roofing were scanned during the mission. The FAA granted approval to SkyBEAM for …

1910 Rover Six As the drone industry anxiously watches federal drone laws unfold – slowly – it’s important to remember that we are at the very beginning of an emerging technology.  Drone laws may seem draconian now, as the federal government struggles to focus on safety and state and local lawmakers wrestle with …

wp-image-42274″ src=”http://dronelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/faalogo-black.png” alt=”black market in drones” width=”253″ height=”253″ srcset=”//dronelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/faalogo-black.png 300w, //dronelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/faalogo-black-150×150.png 150w, //dronelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/faalogo-black-45×45.png 45w” sizes=”(max-width: 253px) 100vw, 253px”/>Commentary.  The FAA predicts that there may be as many as 600,000 licensed drone operators in a year, since Part 107 was enacted at the end of August.  But that number may be …

The latest Amazon Prime Air patent released by the US Patent Office indicates that they may plan to combine drones with trucks, allowing the drones to “hitch rides” on the roofs of their own – and other -trucks and buses. While Amazon’s exact plans for drone delivery have been a closely …

News and Commentary.  Recreational drones – once the darling of drone headlines and drone manufacturers alike – may be taking a backseat to the commercial drone industry. When Paul Misener, vice president for global innovation policy and communications for Amazon,  gave a keynote address at the InterDrone 2016 conference in …

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta delivered the grand opening keynote to thousands of attendees at the InterDrone conference in Las Vegas this morning.  His speech was largely devoted to promoting collaboration between government and industry, and touting the new and more open regulations. Huerta, the main spokesperson for the FAA, said …

Leading commercial drone company PrecisionHawk has announced that they have received the first Part 107 waiver for BVLOS flight (beyond visual line of sight.) PrecisionHawk has been working with the FAA to establish the safety case for BVLOS flight as part of the Pathfinder program, designed to help the FAA …

Image: Public domain Part 2 of a series – see How to Pass the Part 107 Test, Part 1. The FAA reports that 88% of participants taking the Part 107 Test on Monday passed it – but reports from the field say that the test was harder than most people …