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Obama to FAA and government agencies: Move UAS regulations forward

By Vertical Mag | January 27, 2015

Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 22 seconds.


The quadcopter UAS that crashed on the White House lawn Jan. 26 came from the DJI Phantom line. U.S. Secret Service Photo/Associated Press

U.S. President Barack Obama is asking government agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration to speed up efforts to establish a regulatory structure governing the use of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in commercial applications. The topic came up during a Jan. 27 interview with CNN‘s Fareed Zakaria in India, in response to a question about a quadcopter landing on the White House lawn the day before.

“This is a broader problem,” Obama told CNN. “I’ll leave the Secret Service to talk about that particular event, but I’ve asked the FAA and a number of agencies to examine how are we managing this new technology, because the drone that landed at the White House, you could buy at Radio Shack.”

The FAA has issued 16 exemptions for UAS companies covering various applications, including movie and TV filming, aerial surveying, construction site monitoring, oil rig flare stack inspections, agricultural surveillance and real estate photography. But the industry is calling for faster implementation of a framework to allow expanded use of small unmanned aircraft.

“There are companies like Amazon that are talking about using drones to deliver small packages,” Obama said. “There are incredibly useful functions that these drones can play in terms of farmers who are managing crops and conservationists who want to take stock of wildlife, so there are a whole range of things we can do with it, but we don’t have any kind of regulatory structure at all for it.”

As a result, Obama has charged agencies to begin talking to stakeholders and figure out how to put regulations in place “where these things aren’t dangerous, and that they’re not violating anyone’s privacy.”

Brian Wynne, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), released the following statement regarding Obama’s comments:
 
“The president’s comments echo what we have been saying: The FAA needs to move forward with the rulemaking process immediately to allow industries from agriculture to oil and gas to realize the benefits of this technology. Also, this industry has the potential to create more than 70,000 jobs and $13.6 billion in economic impact in just the first three years after integration is complete. Until the FAA develops regulations for this technology, this industry and its commercial and economic benefits will remain grounded.”

Several UAS and hobbyist groups launched a campaign with the FAA in December 2014, “Know Before You Fly,” which includes AUVSI, the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) and the Small UAV Coalition.

Bob Brown, president of AMA, issued a letter to Michael Huerta, FAA Administrator, in reaction to Obama’s comments. Brown is calling for “a community-based set of safety guidelines” as a way to manage recreational small UAS users and suggesting a meeting between AMA and members of FAA executive management to identify areas of common agreement. “Although this is something that will be addressed in the small UAS rule, that rule still appears to be 18 to 24 months away,” he wrote. “I think we would all agree that the need is more immediate and that everyone would benefit from a collaborative effort to help provide the guidance to enthusiasts that is so sorely needed today.”

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