FAA Commercial Drone Rules: Line of Sight Operation Will Be Allowed, Autonomous Flight Beyond Line of Sight, Deliveries Banned for Foreseeable Future
February 15th, 2015Via: Guardian:
Commercial drone operators will be banned from letting unmanned aircraft out of their sight, under new US proposals that come as a major blow to companies like Amazon that were hoping to use the unmanned aircraft to make aerial home deliveries.
Amazon said the proposed new Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) rules, which were outlined in a conference call with reporters on Sunday morning, would prevent it from operating such a service in the US and could force it to develop the technology overseas instead.
“The FAA needs to begin and expeditiously complete the formal process to address the needs of our business, and ultimately our customers,” Paul Misener, Amazon vice-president of gobal public policy, said in a statement to the Guardian. “We are committed to realising our vision for Prime Air and are prepared to deploy where we have the regulatory support we need.”
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The rule also prohibits any item being dropped from a drone or carrying cargo for a third party.
