The FAA announced last week that the publication of a draft
rule for the tracking and identification of UAVs to better address their safety
in the national airspace has been pushed from this month to December. The
publication date for this proposed rule has slipped several times over this
year.
A rule for the tracking and ID of UAVs is critical for the
enforcement of all other UAS related regulations. NAAA previously commented to
the FAA that rulemakings on UAS flights at night and over people should not
proceed until a tracking and ID rule is finalized.
It is unknown what the proposed rule will consist of, but it
was reported in March of 2018 the FAA is considering a
four-tiered approach based on UAS size and operation.
In 2017, NAAA was one of 27 members on the Unmanned Aircraft
Systems Identification and Tracking Aviation Rulemaking Committee (UAS ID and
Tracking ARC), chartered by the FAA. Members came from the aviation community,
industry member organizations, law enforcement agencies, public safety
organizations, and manufacturers.
In December 2017, the UAS ID and Tracking ARC submitted
a final report to the FAA on the feasibility of various
technologies available to identify and track UAVs while in flight. NAAA was one
of 10 members that dissented from the report’s recommendations. The
dissenting letter expressed distress over having “exemptions for
a massive segment of the UAS industry” and explains why lacking a weight-based
threshold for compliance with the rules could “greatly undermine the value,
benefits and utility of UAS ID and Tracking – not to mention, jeopardize the
safety of the airspace and comprehensiveness of any future [unmanned traffic
management system].” The dissent was also signed by signed by the Commercial
Drone Alliance, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, the Aerospace
Industries Association, X, GE, uAvionix, Ford Motor Co., AirMap, and General
Atomics. NAAA believes that UAVs above
half a pound should be required to be tracked and identified.
