Industry leaders praise executive order’s BVLOS policy
By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill
President Trump recently issued two executive orders to spur the growth of the U.S. domestic drone industry.
While the orders contained a number of provisions such as establishing new rules for advanced air mobility and the use of counter-UAS technologies, drone industry experts agree that a directive to the FAA to speed the issuance of a comprehensive rule to allow UAV flights beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) of an operator was by far the most significant aspect of the orders.
In a move hailed by industry veterans, the president issued the ambitious orders, Unleashing American Drone Dominance, and Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty on June 6. The Drone Dominance order directs the FAA to move forward expeditiously to institute what is commonly referred to as Part 108, an industrywide regulation governing BVLOS flights.
“What makes us the most excited is that it advances and pushes on initiating more streamlined beyond visual line of sight flights,” said David Benowitz, vice president of strategy and marketing communications of U.S. drone manufacturer BRINC.
Industry players have long called for the establishment of a unified BVLOS rule to replace the current system of individual drone operators having to seek waivers to fly beyond the line of site. Operators blame this costly and cumbersome process for slowing the growth of the industry in performing such tasks as inspections of power lines and pipelines, and the delivery of common household items.
The FAA’s efforts to establish a universal BVLOS rule go back almost a decade, to 2016 when the agency first acknowledged the need for BVLOS rules in its UAS Integration Roadmap. In June 2021, the FAA established the BVLOS Advisory Rulemaking Committee (ARC) with about 90 industry stakeholders. The following March the ARC submitted a 381-page report with 70 recommendations, including risk-based standards, simplified approvals for low-risk operations and airspace integration pathways.
In May 2024 Congress passed the FAA Reauthorization Act, mandating a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) by September 16, 2024 with a final rule being promulgated no later than January 2026. The FAA missed the September deadline, citing interagency coordination challenges.
With the transition of presidential power, officials of the incoming Trump administration promised a renewed focus on the Part 108 process. In March, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that proposed rules for expanding drone use for deliveries and other services would be accomplished “in relatively short order.”
Benowitz said the FAA’s slow-walking of efforts to institute industry-wide BVLOS regulations has been “a big limiter” for the expansion of the U.S. commercial drone industry.
Vowing to “accelerate the safe commercialization of drone technologies and fully integrate UAS into the National Airspace System,” the Drone Dominance order called for the secretary of Transportation, acting through the FAA, to issue a proposed BVLOS rule within 30 days of the date of the order. In addition, the order directs the Transportation secretary to begin using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to expedite the review of all UAS waiver applications under Part 107.
Experts weigh in on impact of BVLOS push
Industry experts said the executive order’s emphasis on expediting the issuance of a new Part 108 rule is likely to spur renewed investment in the commercial drone industry.
“Basically, the key directives to the FAA from the executive order are essentially for the FAA to expand routine BVLOS operations for both commercial and public safety missions,” said Dr. Jamey Jacob, executive director for the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education.
He said that while the executive order in and of itself would not lead to a future of expanded commercial drone operates across the U.S., it “would at least provide a stepping stone towards that.”
Jordan Beyer, vice president of operations for drone producer Skyfish, said the current restrictions under Part 107 on BVLOS flight comprise one of the biggest impediments to the growth of the commercial drone industry.
“It keeps you from doing things like mobile deliveries, inspections past a mile or two, long-corridor inspections of things, or basically drone operations in places that aren’t accessible,” he said.
Beyer said there is a large demand for the FAA to issue a new BVLOS regulation, which would make the skies more accessible to manufacturers and drone operators alike. “So, I think they’re spot on with making BVLOS more routine,” he said.
Bill Irby, CEO of agricultural drone producer AgEagle, said new BVLOS regulations could be the key to unlocking tremendous growth in the commercial drone industry. Irby was among a group of drone industry leaders who participated in a series of high-level, invitation-only policy discussions with the White House, hosted by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on the subject of how to move forward with establishing Part 108.
“My focus was the benefits of this rule to any capital investment in the overall market and what it meant for market access,” he said. “Once they open up the skies so that you don’t have to go back for a specific waiver … that’s going to allow a lot more drone flights within the US market.”
Matt Isenbarger, chief revenue officer at Freefly Systems, said the players in the U.S. drone industry would like to see performance-based BVLOS regulations where operators could perform advanced drone operation without requiring special waivers from the FAA.
He said the executive order’s BVLOS provisions were “just President Trump’s way of telling the government, ‘Hey, you’ve already missed all these deadlines and all these requirements that were already due, most of them in December of 2024; just get ’em done!’”
Jim Magill is a Houston-based writer with almost a quarter-century of experience covering technical and economic developments in the oil and gas industry. After retiring in December 2019 as a senior editor with S&P Global Platts, Jim began writing about emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robots and drones, and the ways in which they’re contributing to our society. In addition to DroneLife, Jim is a contributor to Forbes.com and his work has appeared in the Houston Chronicle, U.S. News & World Report, and Unmanned Systems, a publication of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
TWITTER:@spaldingbarker
Subscribe to DroneLife here.
