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The FAA Has Missed Its Congressionally Mandated Deadline To Regulate Drones

Posted by samzenpus on from the we'll-get-to-it-eventually dept.

derekmead writes: When Congress passed the FAA Modernization Act in 2012, it gave the agency until September 30, 2015 to fully regulate commercial drones for use in the United States. Well, it's October 1, and we're left with a patchwork of regulatory band-aids, quasi-legal "guidelines," and a small drone rule that still hasn't gone into effect yet. This news shouldn't surprise anyone. The agency has missed most every milestone—both internal and lawmaker mandated—that has been set for it. The last two years have been fraught with lawsuits, confusion on enforcement within its own local offices (some FAA agents have told pilots they can't post videos on YouTube, for example), and various conflicting guidelines as to who can fly a drone where, and for what purposes.

3 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Congressionally mandated penalty by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If there is no congressionally mandated penalty, it's not really a law.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re:Congressionally mandated penalty by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 5, Funny

      Tie some of their funding to the completion of their legal mandates, and they will become fearsome regulation-writing warriors. You just have to understand Bureaushido - the Way of the Bureaucrat.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  2. Re:Why should the FAA allow drones without COAs? by TWX · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think that we're going to need a definition here... What exactly is a COA?

    There are already classes of manned aircraft that do not require the operator to have a pilot's license to operate. There are rules and the operators are required to follow those rules, but without a licensing requirement I expect that enforcement could be challenging sometimes.

    If it's any consolation I agree that RC aircraft need reasonable restrictions. Operators need to not fly over property that they have not sought and received explicit permission to fly over. Operators need to not fly in heavily populated areas. Classes of RC aircraft need to be created so that there are sane rules governing relatively safe child toys as compared to larger amateur rigs and even bigger and more powerful professional rigs.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.