WASHINGTON–As the Federal Aviation Administration considers a notice of proposed rulemaking on regulations governing the use of unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs), the News Media Alliance has published an extensive analysis of the proposals and how they might affect news organizations.
On Aug. 7, the FAA released an NPRM called “Normalizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations.”
The NPRM does not specifically address news operations, stating simply that newsgathering falls into a category called “aerial surveying" that also includes videography and photography.
“This action proposes performance-based regulations to enable the design and operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) at low altitudes beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) and for third-party services, including UAS Traffic Management (UTM), that support these operations. The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 directs the development of this proposed rule,” the FAA reported.
“This proposed rule is necessary to support the integration of UAS into the national airspace system (NAS),” it added. “This proposed rule is intended to provide a predictable and clear pathway for safe, routine, and scalable UAS operations that include package delivery, agriculture, aerial surveying, civic interest, operations training, demonstration, recreation, and flight testing. TSA proposes to make complementary changes to its regulations to ensure it can continue to impose security measures on these operations under its current regulatory structure for civil aviation.”
Comments on the NPRM are due Oct. 6.
NMA, which is backed by over 2,200 publishers in the U.S., has provided a detailed breakdown of the proposals here.
Highlights of that analysis include the fact that newsrooms must continue to seek permission to operate drones beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS). Those permits would be valid for 24 months and have “less FAA surveillance,” than in the past, the NMA reported.
In addition newsrooms would not be permitted to have more than 25 active UAS in a fleet capable of BVLOS operations and the UAS could weight as much as 110 pounds, up from the current 55 pound limit.
More details about the impact and the proposals are available here.
