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The White House has officially announced plans to regulate the use of commercial drones, according to a presidential memorandum released over the holiday weekend.
According to Joan Lowy of the Associated Press, the memorandum was released in conjunction with a proposal of preliminary regulations from the FAA. However, Lowy points out that final rules and regulations on unmanned commercial drones are still likely two or three years away.
The collective plan arrives in the wake of numerous scares involving unmanned drones and commercial jetliners at airports across the country.
Among the proposed requirements for legally flying a commercial drone, the FAA proposed passing a FAA-administered knowledge test as well as a federal security check.
Meanwhile, smaller drones, likely defined as weighing 55 pounds or less, would be able to reach speeds of 100 mph and altitudes of 500 feet based on the FAA's latest proposal. Naturally, flying close to airports or over crowds would be prohibited.
Under the FAA's proposal, small drone operators wouldn't have to worry about acquiring an "airworthiness certificate." Considering it can take the agency years to inspect and approve the airworthiness of manned airplanes and helicopters, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and his colleagues argue that devices would likely be out of date by the time they were approved for flight based on the rapid development of drone technology.
"We have tried to be flexible in writing these rules," said Huerta. "We want to maintain today's outstanding level of aviation safety without placing an undue regulatory burden on an emerging industry."
In the presidential memorandum, the White House claims that drones could potentially transform a variety of industries and tasks, including infrastructure management, farming, security and military training, among others.
New York attorney, Brendan Schulman, who was recently unsuccessful in challenging the FAA's drone flight restrictions, said that he's "very pleased to see a much more reasonable approach to future regulation than many feared."
At the same time, Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International president and CEO Brian Wynne described the latest proposal as "a good first step." The reason being that an FAA analysis highlights a trade association estimate "that drones will create 70,000 jobs with an economic impact of more than $13.6 billion in the first three years after their integration into U.S. skies," according to Lowy.
As stated, finalized rules and regulations regarding commercial drones are still a long way out. However, with freedom, safety and privacy all at stake, it's clear that the drone issue is a complicated one.
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