FAA Releases Micro UAS Committee Findings on Flying Over People
Today, the Federal Aviation Administration released a report on the conclusions reached by the Micro Unmanned Aircraft Systems Committee Aviation Rulemaking Committee — a coalition of 27 companies and associations tasked with determining the safety of flying very small UAS over people.
The committee evaluated the safety requirements and broke operations up into four categories, with unique flying rules for each.
Under the first category, any UAS that weighs less than 250 grams, including payload, should pose so little risk that there should be no operational restrictions. They recommended that companies selling products that fit this description should either label them as safe and file for a safe status with the FAA.
For category two, the group determined that small UAS — aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds — may operate over people if the manufacturer certifies with the FAA that it does not exceed “the typical or likely impact energy threshold” in its failure mode. Operations must maintain a minimum distance of 20 feet over a person’s head or 10 feet laterally from the person.
“If you’re flying over people at all, you must stay 20 feet over their heads,” said committee cochair Nancy Egan, general counsel for 3D Robotics, in a report briefing.
Category three outlines rules for flights with UAS at a higher risk threshold than those applicable to category two. But aircraft in this category would be operated in a closed-access site — like a movie set, utility inspection location or construction site — but the flights over people are limited to ones that are “incidental to the operation.”
The proposed category four would be the most prohibitive. It allows small UAS to fly over people, including operations over dense crowds prohibited in category three, only if the flight is “conducted in compliance with a documented, risk mitigation plan, which was developed and adopted in accordance with industry consensus standards for conducting risk mitigation.”
To demonstrate which category an aircraft operation occurs in, the operator must, among other things, submit a declaration to the FAA in whatever form of communication the agency devises.
AUVSI was among the organizations that participated in the Micro UAS committee.
“AUVSI is pleased to have been a part of the FAA’s Aviation Rulemaking Committee, and we hope that the FAA administrator [Michael Huerta] will consider the committee’s recommendations,” said Brian Wynne, AUVSI president and CEO, in a statement. “This collaborative effort between industry and government demonstrates that we can continue to work together on increasingly complex issues involving UAS technology and establish risk-based regulations that appropriately balance the potential of UAS technology and safety.”
The FAA will take these recommendations and release a notice of proposed rulemaking to get further input. It will not be a part of the finalized small UAS rule, expected in June.
"We’re going to make it a priority, but we don’t have a timeline yet,” said FAA spokesperson Les Dorr.
