The long awaited rules over commercial drone use, presented by the FAA, are close to being instated in the United States. The initial reports are that they intend to be “brutally restrictive”, and will extend to every drone including DJI’s introductory line of Phantoms.
What does this mean? Well, it’s believed that you will need a private pilot’s license to operate. That means you’ll need to qualify through hours of manned aircraft hours, or perhaps the FAA will have a different means for getting that the license.
It will also certainly mean a wide gamut of taxes and registrations that you’ll need to have in place before you operate a drone in public, even if you’re working for a client or business with a permit. That could be terribly restrictive to an industry that is set to have meteoric growth over the next few years.
But this has no doubt been influenced by more and more negative press related to independent drone operators. The media has taken a liking to reporting stories of “near misses”, and “epic crashes”, stirring up fear and agitating a general public of people that already seem to be a bit on edge. Drones are no longer going unnoticed. Nevermind the overwhelming good that drones do.
So to all the operators out there, especially those on hireuavpro, stay tuned closely as this will impact your business here in the United States. We will be sure to bring you more as the news comes out. We wish everyone the best of luck getting beyond these hurdles and are sure that if you follow the correct measures you’ll have plenty of success.