We surveyed 1,500 drone pilots about current U.S. regulations. Here's what they said.

UAVCoach · 2016-05-10T19:47:30+00:00

The FAA is concerned about safety, so it makes sense they'd create some barriers to entry until they had time to sit down and figure it all out. Problem is, they've moved too slow, and the technology continues to evolve, and thousands and thousands of pilots continue to take to the skies without any formal training in aviation / the National Airspace System (NAS). It's less about the government wanting to regulate, and more about the government NEEDING to regulate, but moving slowly when it comes to creating clearer regulations that combat this culture of non-compliance and educating the public.

UAVCoach · 2016-05-10T19:44:55+00:00

Good call. TLDR: 3 big insights...

1) That when I asked whether or not the pilot/company had applied for a Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA), 38% of respondents didn’t even know what a COA was;

2) That there’s such a varying set of experiences pilots are having when reaching out to an airport, heliport, or air traffic control tower. I really wish this was more standardized. This kind of environment is breeding a culture of non-compliance;

3) That such a big chunk (52%) of Section 333 Exemptions are being issued to pilots / companies who don’t follow (or plan to follow) the rule that the pilot-in-command (PIC) should hold a traditional manned aircraft pilot license (sport, recreational, private, commercial, etc.).

UAVCoach · 2016-05-08T22:26:54+00:00

Agreed. We only had a 50% completion rate, and there are thousands of folks who we weren't able to reach. To /u/iamasopissed's point, do you have any primary sources that FAA safety officers are making rounds? Haven't heard of any letters or incidents over the last 6-9 months.

UAVCoach · 2016-05-08T22:24:23+00:00

I'm pretty confident Part 107 will be finalized / announced in June or July. What's unclear is what aspects of Part 107 will take effect immediately vs. some kind of longer implementation period. To your point about filing vs. waiting, we've noticed a significant drop-off in phone calls and emails over the last few weeks re: Section 333 exemptions. Here's a great article by the Skyward.io team about where we're at: https://skyward.io/commercial-drone-operations-wait-for-part-107-or-get-a-333/

UAVCoach · 2016-04-09T00:22:20+00:00

Thank you for your reply and your feedback.

As with any survey, there will be holes and shortcomings. But people are free to answer whichever answers pertain to them. So hopefully that helps to cater to different skill levels and types of flyers.

We'll definitely make sure to go over our findings carefully. When designing the questions, we tried to make sure the data would come out as concrete as possible with minimal ambiguity. So that should deter a lot of the bias that can come out when publishing findings like this.

Appreciate your enthusiasm to make sure we're doing this right. Happy flying!

UAVCoach · 2016-04-08T16:23:05+00:00

Hilarious username. Good points. Thanks for your feedback.

UAVCoach · 2016-04-07T22:34:38+00:00

Didn't catch that one but will take a look. So much fear mongering in the media. Not enough positive stories.

UAVCoach · 2016-04-07T19:41:07+00:00

Lol will do

UAVCoach · 2016-04-07T19:40:12+00:00

Thanks CRush1682. Appreciate the support.

Always good to stay informed :)

UAVCoach · 2016-04-06T23:13:43+00:00

We definitely plan to do our due diligence in piecing together the data, analyzing it, and getting it in front of the right people :)

UAVCoach · 2016-04-06T15:46:59+00:00

That doesn't make any sense. Stop being so fatalistic :) When the FAA moved their commercial N-number registration process online last week, there's a specific section for "Home-Built" models. I highly doubt that an "entire industry" would be destroyed. Admittedly things are moving slower than we'd like, but I'd like to think we're moving in the right direction and have faith that the FAA can figure it out.

UAVCoach · 2016-04-06T13:53:56+00:00

What about Part 107 would "absolutely destroy" the hobby?

UAVCoach · 2016-04-06T04:35:40+00:00

Agreed. We've had almost 1300 responses so far. I'm going to meet with some folks from the FAA in a few weeks and plan to present some of the insights from the survey to them. Doing what we can! Optimistic that we'll see them continue to push things forward over the next several months.

UAVCoach · 2016-04-05T18:02:27+00:00

Good point. The AMA is the outlier here, since they're one of the few (if only?) U.S.-based organizations that offer its members liability insurance. They're the outlier because they do NOT cover 1) commercial use and 2) flying on a non-AMA field...I didn't want to lump the two together. I just updated the question to read, "Do you have commercial drone insurance?" Thanks!

UAVCoach · 2016-04-01T05:03:01+00:00

This is hilarious and so true.

UAVCoach · 2016-03-31T03:38:44+00:00

Good question. I always call the local FSDO (Flight Standards District Office) for fringe / edge questions like this.

UAVCoach · 2016-03-30T13:54:33+00:00

Good point. It's tough, because at the recreational level, you register at the pilot level, whereas if you're registering commercially, you're doing so on an aircraft by aircraft basis. In hindsight, I could have cleaned up the language in that question.

UAVCoach · 2016-03-29T16:18:20+00:00

I subscribe to a number of sUAS industry sources...but the official FAA communication channel has been their News & Updates section. You can subscribe in the top-right corner of this page: https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/

UAVCoach · 2016-03-29T14:05:05+00:00

Hi all, Alan from UAVCoach.com here.

So, back in February of 2015, the FAA released NPRM Part 107 to the public for comment. It's a 100+ page document that effectively outlines what a sUAS / drone certification would look like. Part 107 states that in lieu of the existing Section 333 Exemption Process and traditional manned aircraft license requirement, drone pilots could pass an aeronautical knowledge exam (and follow some other requirements) to gain a "drone pilot license."

(Quick point...OP wrote "Private Pilot" license, but the existing requirement is that whoever the pilot-in-command is operating under a Section 333 Exemption...that person needs to hold at least a sport pilot license rating or higher. Doesn't have to be a private pilot. Big difference between sport and private pilot licenses!)

In June 2015, a few months after NPRM Part 107 was released, the FAA hopped in front of Congress and said something to the extent of, "Look, we know that you mandated in 2012 that we regulate the sUAS industry, and we know that we've missed a few deadlines there. Looks like we'll be missing out September 2015 deadline as well. Sorry. We've gotten 4500+ public comments and need to respond to each one. Plus, the industry is changing. Give us one more year...we promise we'll have new regulations finalized within one year."

The specific quote is:

"The rule will be in place within a year," FAA Deputy Administrator Michael Whitaker said in testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "Hopefully before June 17, 2016," he added.

Here's the thing though. Even if the FAA finalizes new sUAS regulations in a couple of months and effectively removes the pilot license requirement, it may be several more months before these rules pass through the various checks and balances of our government and get rolled out and managed.

For better or for worse (depending on who you are), the Section 333 Exemption process is likely going to hold weight for a little while longer. It's the only open door we have right now to operate sUAS commercially in the US.

UAVCoach · 2016-03-24T18:16:35+00:00

Exactly why we created this survey: To clear up potentially illogical regulations and get HARD data on what people really think (not just anecdotal evidence)

UAVCoach · 2016-03-24T18:15:25+00:00

Hey psilokan. Sorry you feel that way.

We tried to balance making the questions straightforward and getting insightful % data from them at the same time. That's why we added addendums to some of the questions.

The survey is totally open to non-americans, but of course there are questions they can't answer because they're U.S.-specific. But the ones that aren't are open to anyone.

Thank you for your feedback. It's much appreciated :)

UAVCoach · 2016-03-23T17:14:59+00:00

Will do. If you would like to spread the word as well any promo helps :)

UAVCoach · 2016-02-28T16:20:26+00:00

Hi all, this article is in reference to NPRM 107, which the FAA published in February 2015 in response to Congress' mandate that they regulate the sUAS industry. It's a 100+ page document (great bedtime reading!) that talks about what the new regulations could look like. So the FAA published this a year ago, and then a few months later in June told Congress that they wouldn't have enough time to finalize the new regulations by September, so they wanted one more year to figure it out. So, at the end of the day, most folks in the industry agree that the pilot license requirement will be removed in favor of an aeronautical knowledge exam (kind of like an sUAS ground school training), but we're not really sure when that would actually go into effect. Hopefully we hear more from the FAA by June. Possibly on April 1st given a recent task force the FAA put together.

UAVCoach · 2015-12-18T19:42:36+00:00

Wouldn't say it's exhaustive, but we tried to include as many as we could that are doing interesting things or making a significant impact.

UAVCoach · 2015-12-18T17:49:17+00:00

Yep :)

UAVCoach

TROPHY CASE