Drones Could Be Buzzing Across America’s Skies Like Never Before

Americans could soon see significantly more drones flying overhead as the Trump administration moves to expand advanced unmanned aircraft operations across the country.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is launching Phase 2 of its BEYOND drone program and plans to double its current size by adding as many as eight state, local, tribal and territorial participants. The expansion is designed to help the government work through the remaining obstacles to making routine drone flights a larger part of the National Airspace System, according to the Department of Transportation (DOT).

The BEYOND program puts government agencies and private companies together to test increasingly complex drone operations under real-world conditions. Its first phase recorded more than 70,000 flights, including more than 48,000 operations in which drones flew beyond the visual line of sight of their operators, according to the DOT.

“The FAA reports there are currently 837,513 registered UAS operating in the National Airspace System,” Ryan Wallace, executive director and professor at the Center for Advanced Air Mobility at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, there are more than 222,000 aircraft in the U.S. In short, drones outnumber aircraft by [a] factor of 4-to-1. Pilots, air traffic controllers and other stakeholders routinely report sightings of UAS near airports.”

“Safely integrating drones into the National Airspace System is a top priority for the FAA,” an FAA spokesperson told the DCNF. “Drones are already transforming how we deliver goods, inspect infrastructure, support agriculture, and respond to emergencies. Most drones operating today are required to broadcast Remote ID information, which functions like a digital license plate to support airspace awareness and accountability.”

Aerial Traffic Jams

This massive undertaking by the FAA will undoubtedly crowd U.S. airspace, although safety is its number one priority as the U.S. moves to implement this new technology.

“Increased congestion could have a safety impact. With increased congestion, the need for enhanced air traffic management and detect-and-avoid systems (systems used on drones to avoid getting too close to other aircraft—primarily crewed aircraft) increases,” Mark Askelson, associate vice president for research on national security at the University of North Dakota, told the DCNF. “However, the FAA and industry have been taking a stepwise approach to integrating drones into the UAS airspace, with safety being the number one priority.”

“The FAA only authorizes drone operations that can be conducted safely,” an FAA spokesperson told the DCNF. “As operations increase and expand beyond visual line of sight and into more complex shared airspace, the systems supporting operations also need to evolve. That is why the FAA is replacing outdated equipment and building a brand new air traffic control system for the future of flight, which includes automated traffic management, digital identity tools, and enhanced airspace awareness systems.”

The program’s growth comes as the FAA is also pursuing a sweeping regulatory change aimed at making beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations routine rather than exceptional. The proposed rule would establish a regulatory pathway for low-altitude BVLOS flights involving package delivery, agriculture, aerial surveying, training, demonstrations, recreation and testing, according to the FAA.