Small UAS Rule Release Delayed Until November 2014

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta at a recent industry event. AUVSI photo.

By Ben Gielow



The U.S. Department of Transportation’s latest update of significant rulemaking, put out in January, now lists the planned publication date of the small UAS notice of proposed rulemaking as November 2014 – almost four years late. 



The DOT’s explanation for the delay is “unanticipated issues requiring further analysis.” This could possibly mean the Federal Aviation Administration is starting over and rewriting the rule. 



November 2014 is the date when the FAA will begin collecting public comments. It will likely take many more months, and possibly years, for the FAA to make a formal decision on all of the public comments and publish the final rule. That means the commercial use of small UAS could be pushed back further than the September 2015 deadline Congress established for UAS integration when it passed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act in 2012.  



Several months ago, the U.S. House Unmanned Systems Caucus led a congressional delegation letter with 30 signatures to the secretary of transportation asking for an explanation as to the delay of the small UAS rule; however, the DOT has not yet responded. 



This news also runs counter to what FAA Administrator Michael Huerta has said publicly numerous times in recent months, which is that he intends to get the rule out for public comment in “early 2014.”  



Congress passed language in the 2014 defense authorization bill that requires the FAA and other federal UAS stakeholders to submit multiple reports to Congress on the status of UAS integration. 



For more information, contact AUVSI's advocacy team at advocacy@auvsi.org.