With New Rule, More Than 600,000 Commercial Drones May Fly During Next Year, Says FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration "forecasts there could be as many as 600,000 unmanned aircraft used commercially" over the next year now that a new small drone rule took effect Monday, said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta during a Monday news conference. The rule allows drones less than 55 pounds to fly in sparsely populated areas up to 400 feet high and up to 100 miles per hour during daylight hours. It also requires those flying drones to take a written test for certification. Huerta said the rule also includes a provision to allow people to request waivers so they can operate outside parameters such as beyond the visual line of sight and over people. He said 76 such waiver requests were received Monday. CNN said in a Monday news release that the FAA granted the news organization a waiver to "operate the Fotokite Pro, a tethered platform that weighs less than two pounds, over uncovered people who are not directly participating in the [unmanned aerial systems] operation." Huerta also said the FAA will distribute privacy guidelines developed by an NTIA multistakeholder group (see 1605190007) to all operators during the registration process and to pilots during their certification process, and issue new guidance to local and state governments, but he didn't provide any details. Huerta said "in excess of 530,000" people have registered since the process went live in December. The Electronic Privacy Information Center is suing the agency for not developing privacy rules (see 1608260020). In a statement, Doug Johnson, CTA vice president-technology, said that if the government "continues to embrace drone technology policy that balances safety and innovation, by 2025 our country will reach one million drone flights per day." CTA predicts 2.4 million drones will be sold in the U.S. this year, up 112 percent from last year.