A new federal report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) studied the present state of drone integration into the national airspace system and reported a number of safety gaps, even as beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone flights are expected to rise substantially in the near future.
The FAA is working on proposed BVLOS rules and is engaged in relevant research, but the GAO’s report suggests that the rise of BVLOS operations is outpacing the development of an adequate regulatory framework. According to the report, no planning that presently exists deals directly enough with the specific actions, responsibilities or technical milestones that will be required in order for drones to communicate with and avoid other aircraft in a consistent and standardized way during routine operations.
The report points out some of the limitations inherent in today’s detect-and-avoid approaches. It notes that existing technologies rely heavily on systems that cannot support large-scale integration on their own. According to GAO, the FAA has articulated a long-term vision for an information-centric airspace in which aircraft share two-way position data electronically, but planning so far lacks the detail needed to guide implementation and adequate systems are not yet in place for this to be accomplished successfully yet.
The agency has proposed regulations requiring drones flying beyond visual line of sight to detect and avoid other aircraft, yet GAO said the path toward achieving reliable two-way communication and coordinated operations remains undefined. Defining solutions to this problem is one of the reasons why the FAA reopened its comment period for its proposed Part 108 BVLOS ruleset, although that period closes on Feb. 11.
GAO recommended the FAA develop and begin implementing concrete steps, including clearly defined federal and nonfederal roles and measurable technical milestones, to support safe integration as drone activity increases. The Department of Transportation agreed with the recommendation, the report said, as policymakers continue to examine how expanding commercial and public-safety drone use will fit into a national airspace system designed primarily around crewed aviation.
