The US FAA’s micro unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) aviation rulemaking committee (ARC) has recommended that drones weighing less than a half pound could be allowed to fly over crowds with few restrictions.
According to the panel, the permission to fly such drones over crowd can be granted because they pose minimal risk of causing serious injuries to the public.
Under the existing rules, drones weighing more than half a pound but under 55lb are required to fly at least 20ft above public’s heads and keep at least 10ft away from them laterally.
UAS operators are also required to verify that their drones pose a less than 1% risk of causing injury, on the basis of the results of crash tests with dummies.
In addition, drones are not allowed to fly over restricted areas such as construction sites, film sets or agriculture fields.
However, the recent ARC report recommends that drone operators might obtain an exemption if they build up a suitable risk mitigation plan, reports The Hill.
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By GlobalDataThe committee also recommended that that it should be made easier for small drone operators to receive education about flying through an online test since people might be reluctant to go to an FAA testing site.
FAA is currently reviewing the report and recommendations of ARC, which has been tasked by the agency to develop recommendations for performance-based regulations that would allow certain unmanned aircraft operate over people not directly involved in the flight of the aircraft.
The rulemaking committee includes several aviation stakeholders such as UAS manufacturers, UAS operators, consensus standards organisations, researchers and academics.
ARC recommendations could act as the basis of new rules, with FAA expected to release a notice of proposed rulemaking on the issue.
