Last week, FAA Deputy Administrator Katie Thomson stated that her agency is set to meet its deadlines regarding beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) rulemaking.

According to a Dronelife report, Thomson told an audience at the FAA Drone and AAM symposium in Baltimore that the agency plans to publish the required BVLOS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) by the end of 2024 and is “on track to meet the scheduled timeline for issuing a final beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) rule by January, 2026.”

In May, Congress passed the FAA Reauthorization Act, which contained a provision that the FAA develop an NPRM regarding UAV BLVOS flights within 4-6 months. The bill also requires that the FAA must issue a final rule within two years.

News that the FAA is poised to meet its deadlines is surely a positive development for drone operators who have long been waiting for clarity and direction on BVLOS drone flights. However, based on past FAA actions, some skepticism remains.

“The big question here is the time between the publication of the NPRM and the actual implementation of the regulation,” said Commercial UAV Staff Writer Juan Plaza in a recent article.  Plaza noted that, “The FAA published a NPRM for Part 107 on February 23, 2015, and the actual regulation came into effect on August 29, 2016. That means it took 18 months (and change) for the federal agency to transform a proposed rule into an actual rule.”

Based on this past action, Plaza said, “If we go back to our BVLOS rule, or Part 108 as everyone seems to be calling it, that means that we should expect a formal regulation by March 2026!”

Watch Commercial UAV News in the coming weeks and months for regular updates on the FAA’s BVLOS rulemaking and other important regulatory issues.

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