Monday, October 6, marks the final day for public comments on the FAA’s proposed “Normalizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations” (BVLOS) rule. The rule, announced August 5 and introduced August 7, would make up a new Part 108 and outlines performance-based regulations for the design and operation of drones at low altitudes and for third-party services such as UAS Traffic Management.
The proposal was jointly issued with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and represents a major step toward integrating unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system. It was also followed shortly thereafter by an additional program aimed at accelerating integration of eVTOL and AAM aircraft into the national airspace system as well.
On September 29, the FAA denied two requests to extend the 60-day comment period, citing the tight timeline for the rule set by Executive Order 14307, Unleashing American Drone Dominance. The order, issued on June 6, directed the agency to publish a final rule within 240 days. One request, submitted by Michael Ravnitzky, sought a 10-day extension or a 20-day reply period, while another from Sky Sail Balloons asked for additional time and for the rule to be subdivided by area of concern. Both were declined.
“Meeting that deadline will require extraordinary measures that do not make it practicable to extend the comment period or subdivide the NPRM into separate rulemakings,” the FAA wrote in its notice.
The agency added that the existing 60-day window provides sufficient opportunity for thoughtful input.
Comments on the proposed BVLOS rule can be submitted through the FAA’s public docket, FAA-2025-1908, available at Regulations.gov, until today at 11:59 PM EDT.
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