FAA Control Over Commercial Drones Is Slipping

Amazon pushed commercial
drone use into the limelight last December, but novel drone
experimentation doesn’t end there. In fact, it is getting very
difficult for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to keep the
crazy new, controversial, drone technology under wraps. If the
agency doesn’t update its approach soon the “FAA risks losing the
drone war,” Politico
reports.

Some, like the Minnesota-based beer company Lakemaid, and a
Michigan
floral company, suspended drone deliveries after the FAA
stepped in. But this hasn’t wiped drones from the skies. Far from
it. Everyone from Martin Scorsese to dry cleaning operations have
flouted FAA regulations. Politico
describes the development of an underground economy “where
rural farmers use drones to monitor crops with little risk of being
spotted and where teenagers can use drones to check their
neighbors’ gutters for a few dollars.” Anticipating this trend, an
Oregon college is awaiting the
state’s approval to teach a commercial drone flights courses.

As the drones get cheaper, more and more commercial drones will
likely seep through the cracks.

The FAA lags behind its five-year plan to incorporate drones
into U.S. airspace. In December it
announced the development of six testing arenas, but otherwise,
the FAA’s approach hasn’t evolved much since 2007 when it declared
commercial drone use illegal. Although the agency expects to
incorporate drones in the long-term, an unconditional ban on the
novel technology doesn’t seem to be the right approach in the
short-term either.

People are getting antsy. Ted Elliot, a former FAA general
counsel,
told Politico:

Most people want to comply with the FAA rules. But the
more the FAA acts like a big daddy, behemoth government agency that
is imposing excessive restrictions, the more the feeling of ‘I’m an
American, they can’t tell me what to do’ kicks in. And that’s a
real danger for the FAA.

Some have been taking advantage of lax, or non-existent, drone
laws in other countries to try diverse projects. An American man is

using drones to collect climate change data in the Peruvian
rainforest. RT drone journalism gave its viewers a
unique view of the Ukrainian protests. South African beer
deliveries, unlike Minnesota’s, were not shut down.

Privacy and safety concerns shouldn’t be ignored, but FAA could
speed things up (perhaps by making some of its deadlines). Demand
for drones is growing. And besides, postponing growth and
experimentation in the industry cost an enormous $28 million in
economic growth per year according to The Association for
Unmanned Vehicle Systems.