Unlike Most Industries, Drone Makers and Operators Clamor for Federal Regulation
Unlike Most Industries, Drone Makers and Operators Clamor
for Federal Regulation
Leaders seek approval for broader commercial
applications, so they buck the trend toward looser government oversight
By Andy Pasztor Sept. 17, 2017 7:00 a.m. ET
Despite White House directives rolling back regulations
affecting most industries, drone proponents are clamoring for more federal
rules as the way to open up the skies for unmanned aircraft.
The counterintuitive stance stems from the fact that
until roughly a year ago, commercial drones effectively were barred from U.S.
airspace due to safety concerns. Since then, the Federal Aviation
Administration has given limited approvals for small, remotely piloted aircraft
weighing up to 55 pounds.
With some exceptions, the initial package of rules
permits operations only during daylight hours, up to an altitude of 400 feet
and within sight of operators on the ground.
But for many leaders of a budding industry that already
has nearly 80,000 registered commercial drones in the U.S. and is projected to
have 1.6 million by 2021, progress is too slow because the next wave of rules
is still a year or two off. Considering the goal of having a single pilot
control a flock of drones from long distance—possibly doing everything from
dusting crops to inspecting railroad tracks—they see the FAA’s current
boundaries as unduly restrictive.
That is why drone makers, operators and many of their
would-be customers are bucking the government-wide trend toward looser
oversight. Additional regulations are their sole means of getting a green light
for a much broader array of promising uses.
So from packed conferences to congressional hearings to
FAA-sponsored advisory committees, these contrarian voices argue that swift
federal action is essential for the technology to flourish.
Unlike nearly all other businesses, “we want and need
rules and regulations to understand how we can fly drones commercially for
expanded operations,” said Gretchen West, senior adviser at the law firm Hogan
Lovells US LLP.
While the FAA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
other agencies struggle with legal, technical and public safety challenges
unlike any in the past, industry officials increasingly are frustrated. They
worry that a prolonged regulatory stalemate threatens to stifle innovation,
sacrifice potential American jobs and hand other countries the lead in evolving
market segments.
The status quo will persist “until there are enough [drones]
out there pushing the FAA to do something different” and the industry’s
prodding “rises to the level of bumping everything else out of the way,”
consultant Jim Williams, former head of the agency’s drone office, said during
a recent conference.
Responses to Hurricane Harvey’s impact on Texas this
month showcased the industry’s potential. The FAA issued more than 125
authorizations spanning various search and rescue missions, bridge inspections,
flood monitoring and media flights—some going beyond what had been deemed
acceptable under normal circumstances.
FAA chief Michael Huerta described it as a transformative
moment, emphasizing that “every drone that flew meant that a traditional
aircraft” was freed up to help save lives and “did not put additional strain on
an already fragile infrastructure.”
By Friday, more than 130 similar approvals had been
granted over storm-ravaged Florida. Working with government rescuers and
industry officials, dozens of drone teams are assessing areas most in need of
assistance and identifying where electricity needs to be restored—particularly
in parts of the state still inaccessible to automotive traffic.
Longer term, drones are seen as important tools to
monitor construction, create maps and check for damage to pipelines or the
condition of cellular phone towers. Intel Corp. already has permission to use
hundreds of tiny drones to put on fully automated light shows as entertainment.
And insurance companies increasingly are relying on drones to accelerate
processing of homeowner claims.
Mr. Huerta has backed the concept of expanding the
envelope for operators. In speeches, he sometimes likens the explosion of ideas
and entrepreneurs to the flowering of aviation in the wake of the Wright
Brothers’ first flight more than a century ago.
During the largest international drone conference that
was held in Las Vegas less than two weeks ago, the FAA chief, who is slated to
leave office in January, sketched out his vision of collaboration. Emphasizing
that drones are “raising questions we have never had to deal with before,” he
said “the only limitation seems to be how quickly all of us, across the
industry, can make it happen safely.”
Institutional hurdles remain, however, including the
FAA’s congressionally imposed mandate to abide by cost-benefit analyses. Yet
when it comes to drones, the benefits of regulation generally aren’t
quantifiable in terms of accidents or deaths prevented—traditional metrics that
have ushered in the safest period ever for the industry world-wide.
Instead, the upside comes from what the FAA chief and
others call broader “enabling regulations,” intended to promote economic growth
by paving the way for creation of an entire industry. Some drone champions
believe they deserve special dispensation in this regard.
In an interview during the conference, Mr. Huerta said
White House officials recognize that distinction and have been “supportive in
working with us to find ways to enable this industry.”
Regulators, however, “are walking a tightrope” by serving
as “both the policeman and promoter” of the industry, according to private
attorney Mark Dombroff, who previously represented the Transportation
Department.
Politically, the industry continues to confront
additional hurdles. President Donald Trump’s administration has decreed that
all agencies typically must eliminate two existing rules for every new
regulation they plan to propose. Company and government experts say the FAA
overall is struggling to comply, and it may have a particularly tough time
issuing certain drone rules unless it gets some type of exemption.
At a White House technology conference this year, Michael
Chasen, chief executive of service provider PrecisionHawk, raised that point
directly with Mr. Trump. The 2-for-1 principle “doesn’t work for the drone
industry,” he recalls telling the president, because today “by default we are
not allowed in the airspace.”
Concerns about terrorists or criminals blending in with
lawful drone missions also have complicated the FAA’s task.
As a result, draft FAA rules to routinely allow drone
flights over crowds or at night are in limbo. Industry experts fret it will
take even longer before typical drones will be permitted to operate dozens of
miles beyond the sight of operators, or rely on onboard sensors to see and
avoid both manned and unmanned aircraft.
Still, some of the biggest players are loath to blast
government. “The FAA is really engaging the industry and acknowledging that
technology can move faster” under more-flexible regulations, according to Anil
Nandury, general manager of Intel’s drone business.
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