The FAA continues to be under pressure, as well as constant criticism, to advance the ball in the small UAS rulemaking area.  In response, the FAA has re-affirmed its intent to publish the NPRM for small UASs this fall.  In addition, with little fanfare, on June 23, 2014, the FAA published Chapter 16 to its Flight Management Information Systems (FMIS) Handbook, Order 8900.1 CHG 351.

Entitled “Unmanned Aircraft Systems” there are ten sections dealing with, among other areas,  Certificates of Authorization, Public Aircraft Operation, Civil Aircraft Operation, Airmen Certification and Operational Requirements and Approval.

Now, don’t get too excited! This publication limits its applicability to the use of “UASs for important missions in the public interest, such as firefighting, disaster relief, search and rescue, law enforcement, border patrol, military training, and testing and evaluation. . . .”  Read that as not including commercial or business uses.  However, it is still of substantial benefit to anyone seeking an exemption, based on Section 333 of the 2012 legislation, to operate a UAS for commercial/business purposes since it gives us a glimpse into the FAA’s thinking. 

This chapter will not provide all of the answers.  In fact, many sections have little more than a title.  However, Chapter 16 does contain a substantial amount of information that represents the FAA’s current thinking on a whole range of UAS issues.  Moreover, it pulls back a corner of the curtain on what we may expect some aspects of the upcoming NPRM to look like.

More tomorrow!