FAA Hopes to Expedite Final Rules Regarding UAV’s

The comment period for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAV’s or commonly known as drones just closed this past Friday.  Joe Morra, with the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington spoke with farm broadcasters this week on the proposed rules, and comments.  Morra spoke with Southern Farm Network’s Rhonda Garrison as well as Dave Russell:

“The comment period closed last Friday. Typical rule making takes 24 months but we are hoping to accelerate that.

We are happy to have gotten about 4500 comments, but surprised we didn’t get more. We are eager to sort through them and get working on the final rule.

It’s a new segment of aviation and its not your normal entrance to aviation.

Line of sight can be a little tricky here in NC, and it could be the difference between using a UAV and not. The key is to be able to safely orient and deconflict with any other air traffic or other objects. The current permitting operations will be to constrict them to visual line of sight but they may be different in the future.

We are not reclassifying any airspace. All airspace from the ground up is regulated, even in rural areas. We are considering how to integrate these into the current system.

If you currently own one of these aircrafts, they can use one of our partner sites or go to our website and apply for exemption. They can also just operate for hobby and recreation and just fly safely.”

From Washington, DC, Southern Farm Network’s Rhonda Garrison