While most general aviation advocacy groups had positive reviews overall this week for the FAA’s proposed new rules for commercial operations of unmanned aerial systems, reaction has been mixed on other fronts. One of the biggest disappointments was handed to Amazon, whose plans to develop autonomous delivery drones would be grounded by the proposed rules. The company doesn’t intend to give up yet, though. “We are committed to realizing our vision for Prime Air and are prepared to deploy where we have the regulatory support we need,” Amazon spokesman Paul Misener told ABC News. “The FAA needs to begin and expeditiously complete the formal process to address the needs of our business, and ultimately our customers.”
Also this week, the White House released a Presidential Memorandum outlining the administration’s policies in regard to the use of unmanned aerial systems. The memo states, in essence, that agencies operating UAS must ensure that existing protections for privacy, civil rights and civil liberties are not violated. The memorandum notes that the technology for UAS “continues to improve rapidly, and increasingly UAS are able to perform a variety of missions with greater operational flexibility and at a lower cost than comparable manned aircraft … [UAS] may play a transformative role in fields as diverse as urban infrastructure management, farming, public safety, coastal security, military training, search and rescue, and disaster response.” No comments have so far been posted to the docket for the FAA’s proposal, but the government has been closed due to the Monday holiday and inclement weather on Tuesday.
