CLEARED FOR TAKE OFF

Navigating the regulations for public sector drones

- Wendie Kellington & Patrick Sherman

The use of drones by firefighters and law enforcement gets most of the attention regarding public sector applications for this technology, but there are plenty of others. Public works departments, planning divisions, parks and recreation agencies, water and sewage districts—all stand to benefit from drones. In this article, two nationally recognized experts explain how they can do that legally.

The rules and regulations that govern the use of small uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) are premised on how the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) defines these machines and their operators. Under the law, a two-pound UAS is an aircraft, no different from a Cessna 172 or a Boeing 737.

In its official glossary of terms, FAA defines an aircraft as a “a device that is used or intended to be used for flight in the air.” There is no mention of its size, crew, range or mission—only that it is a mechanism that flies. Likewise, people who operate UAS are pilots, holding a credential granted by the FAA: the Remote Pilot In Command (RPIC) certificate.

The successful addition of UAS to the public worker’s toolbox will necessarily require the assumption of a new professional role, that of an aviator. To use a drone is to launch a flying machine into the most crowded and complex airspace system in the world.