Federal Aviation Administration

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Last week, the Burleigh County Sheriff’s Department in North Dakota received a four-year waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate drones over people. The Department will routinely conduct drone operations over people for purposes of public safety and monitoring. Currently, the Department has five drones –all equipped with a parachute recovery system. Specifically,…

A beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flight of a drone traveled along the Trans-Alaska pipeline system (TAPS) this month, led by a team from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration. Operators flew the drone along 3.87 miles of TAPS, using onboard and ground-based detection systems (instead of human observers) to detect and…

As of July 23, 2019, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) expanded the Low Altitude Authorization and Capability (LAANC) system to include recreational operators. LAANC is a system built as a collaboration between the FAA and industry stakeholders to help expedite the time it takes to receive authorization to fly a drone under 400 feet in…

United Parcel Service of America, Inc. (UPS) is seeking permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate a network of commercial drones for purposes of delivering packages all across the U.S. If UPS’ request for certification is granted by the FAA, UPS could be flying drones over people in populated areas, at night and…

Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that unmanned aerial system (UAS or drone) delivery operations would be required to obtain a commercial air operator certificate issued under 14 CFR Part 119, as required by 14 CFR Part 135. This certification requires “economic authority” from the Department of Transportation (DOT) which can be given…

Last week, reports of “drone activity” temporarily halted flights at the Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had to briefly hold arrivals due to “reports of drone activity north of the airport earlier that evening.” The airport had to coordinate with the FAA and federal law enforcement authorities to…

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), at the request of the Department of Defense (DOD) and the United States Coast Guard (USCG), issued new drone operating restrictions to address concerns about potentially malicious drone operations over certain high-priority maritime operations.

Drones are restricted from flying near U.S. Navy (USN) and USCG vessels operating in the vicinity…

Avitas Systems, a General Electric (GE) venture, received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to fly a large unmanned aerial system (UAS or drone) beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) of the operator in Loving County, Texas. The FAA’s authorization allows Avitas Systems to fly UAS over 55 pounds at low altitudes without a visual observer…

Drone pilots who interfere with those fighting wildfires, conducting law enforcement tasks, or other first responders (such as medical flights) are now more likely to face serious civil penalties. Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued guidance for agency personnel who handle drone violations to refer all such cases to the FAA’s Chief Counsel’s…