Unmanned

At long last, Congress in February passed and the president signed into law multi-year legislation reauthorizing the FAA. The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 was several years in the making; the FAA had been operating under temporary funding since the mid-2000s. It’s set to expire in four years, though, so we’ll get to go through this process again in the near future. The new law includes a wide-ranging set of provisions. For example, it mandates new pilot certificates bearing a photograph of the holder.

Key Takeaways:

• Congress passed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, reauthorizing the FAA after years of temporary funding and mandating new pilot certificates with photographs.
• The law immediately allowed law enforcement agencies to use small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and set a strict deadline (September 30, 2015) for the FAA to develop a regulatory framework for larger, privately operated UAVs, requiring "sense and avoid" capabilities.
• The author expresses significant concerns regarding the rapid integration of UAVs into national airspace, highlighting potential safety risks, accidents with manned aircraft, and the challenges of oversight for an understaffed and underfunded FAA.

Key takeaways sponsored by Aviator Pro | Start Your Training ->

See a mistake? Contact us.