With regard to line of sight and commercial drone operations in the US, POTUS issued a memo for the FAA and related govt agencies to figure out how to safely integrate UAVs into the NAS (National Air Space). The most immediate result has been the FAA's issuance of Section 333 Exemptions.
Within the Section 333 Exemption there is language regarding being able to see the drones that specifically states: the UA must be operated within VSOL (visual line of flight) of the Pilot in Command and all operations must use a Visual Observer; the UA must remain within VSOL of the visual oberserver; and the VO and PIC must be able to communicate verbally at all times (precludes texting or e messaging) during the flight.
The FAA has gone even further by requiring PICs be actual FAA licensed pilots.
This language works well for most commercial uses (construction, agriculture and photography) but virtually kills Amazon's hopes for an unmanned delivery network.
Comments
With regard to line of sight and commercial drone operations in the US, POTUS issued a memo for the FAA and related govt agencies to figure out how to safely integrate UAVs into the NAS (National Air Space). The most immediate result has been the FAA's issuance of Section 333 Exemptions.
Within the Section 333 Exemption there is language regarding being able to see the drones that specifically states: the UA must be operated within VSOL (visual line of flight) of the Pilot in Command and all operations must use a Visual Observer; the UA must remain within VSOL of the visual oberserver; and the VO and PIC must be able to communicate verbally at all times (precludes texting or e messaging) during the flight.
The FAA has gone even further by requiring PICs be actual FAA licensed pilots.
This language works well for most commercial uses (construction, agriculture and photography) but virtually kills Amazon's hopes for an unmanned delivery network.