A few days ago, in a gigantic milestone, DroneUp received its Part 135 certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). For people in our industry not familiar with traditional piloted aviation, receiving a Part 135 or any other Part certification is a big deal.

For example, all airlines with regular charter flights are certified Part 121, while all agricultural spraying companies are Part 137 certified. Private aircraft flying for pleasure or business of the owner normally fly under Part 91 and flight training schools operate under Part 61. All aviation mechanics and the shops where they work operate under Part 145, and the list goes on and on.

But today we would like to focus on the importance of seeing an uncrewed aviation company, such as DroneUp, applying and obtaining their Part 135. This is easier said than done, and it normally takes between 12 to 18 months to accomplish and over $100,000 in legal fees and paperwork preparation and presentation.

For starters, the company must hire a long list of highly qualified people who will need to pass the strict curriculum requirements established by the FAA for managers in a Part 135 or Part 121 commercial venture. To obtain a Part 135 certification from the FAA, a company must meet the following key requirements:

  1. Company Ownership: The company must be U.S.-owned. If it's a partnership, all members must be U.S. citizens. For corporations, at least 75% of the voting interest must be owned or controlled by U.S. citizens.
  2. Principal Base of Operation: The company must have a physical location for its principal base of operation. This can be demonstrated through documentation of ownership, lease agreement, or a letter of intent.
  3. Aircraft: The company must have exclusive use of at least one aircraft that meets the requirements for the intended operations. This includes having an airworthy aircraft with proper registration and certification.
  4. Maintenance: The company must have a maintenance program that meets the stringent requirements of Part 135. This includes regular inspections and adherence to maintenance standards.
  5. Economic Authority: The company must obtain economic authority from the Department of Transportation (DOT).
  6. Insurance: The company must have adequate insurance coverage.
  7. Management Personnel: The company must have qualified management personnel, including a chief pilot and other key positions.
  8. Training Programs: The company must have training programs for its personnel, including pilots and maintenance staff.
  9. Drug and Alcohol Program: The company must have a drug and alcohol testing program in place.
  10. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Security Program: The company must have a TSA-approved security program.
  11. Minimum Equipment List (MEL): The company must have a specific M.E.L. that outlines the minimum onboard equipment required for safe operations.
  12. Proving and Validation Testing: The company must conduct proving and validation tests to demonstrate the safety and reliability of its operations.

These requirements ensure that the company can operate safely and in compliance with FAA regulations. But in the past it also meant that the company could launch a very lucrative non-scheduled charter business in which each seat on a private flight would cost thousands of dollars per leg of flight, hence justifying the investment in the Part 135 certification process.

This, unfortunately, is not the case with uncrewed aviation where the most optimistic outcome for a drone delivery company is to make a couple of dollars per package as revenue, let alone the profit margin per flight hour or a similar Return on Investment (ROI) consideration.

In recent conversations with successful drone delivery companies operating outside of the US, we have received worrisome data that indicates that the business model of carrying a single package from the vendor to the end user is unattainable at a decent ROI, and therefore it is dead on arrival.

So, what are the options? One solution is to modify the aircraft to hold many packages in one single flight in order to increase revenue per flight and reduce cost per package. It is considered a rule of thumb in the industry that if this number exceeds two dollars, customers will be unwilling to pay extra money to justify the convenience.

Another alternative is to focus on the real bottleneck instead of attempting to deliver door to door with an aircraft. For example, if the real problem of a specific delivery area is the traffic to cross a large urban area, then the company might use traditional methods in the first and last mile and only use aerial transportation in the middle mile, reducing costs and using existing infrastructure.

Whatever the fine tuning of the business model to create a profit, the issuing of a traditional Part 135 or Part 121 to conduct non-piloted flights to deliver small packages seems to be an overkill. Once again, we are confronted with the reality that existing rules for crewed aviation are grossly out of proportion for an industry that is trying to deliver small packages at low altitudes over short distances, not human beings at high altitudes over long distances.

We believe it is time to consider the possibility that the FAA might not be adequately equipped to deal with such innovative means of transportation, just because they fly. There are other considerations that are as important as occupying the National Airspace (NAS) and all should be taken into the account as we move into Part 108 territory and flights beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).