NAAA, General Aviation Groups Advocate to FAA Airspace Safety Imperatives for Crewed Aircraft Ahead of UAS BVLOS Rulemaking

Recently, NAAA participated in a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) listening session along with other aviation stakeholders to hear the agency’s concepts under consideration for an upcoming Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) rulemaking. Some of the concepts presented by the FAA were disconcerting, such as questioning the use of longstanding right-of-way requirements, and considering mandating equipage for crewed aircraft not deemed to be failsafe for crewed aircraft to detect an uncrewed aircraft’s presence and vice-versa. As such, NAAA, working with seven other national general aviation industry groups responded to the FAA’s listening session concepts in a letter dated December 22, 2023. The letter, which you can read by clicking here, emphasizes the general aviation organizations that the FAA’s commitment, first and foremost, should be to aviation safety. The letter also underscores to the FAA that the foundational responsibility of complying with the 14 CFR 91.113 right-of-way regulation does not change because the aircraft is being operated remotely instead of by a pilot occupying a cockpit. The letter also underscores general aviation’s opposition imposing or expanding any existing aircraft equipage mandate in order to enable BVLOS UAS operations as part of the rulemaking; that BVLOS UAS should be equipped with sufficient DAA technology; and that shielded areas should not be based on an earlier FAA UAS BVLOS Aviation Rulemaking Committee’s definition that UAS would have §91.113 right-of-way over all other aircraft within shielded areas (the volume of airspace within 100 feet vertically and horizontally of any obstacle or critical infrastructure) and not have to equip with DAA in that same space. Rather, the letter states, shielded areas should be grounded in the tangible, physical shielding of a UAS operating within these zones, rather than a mere proximity to undefined obstacles.

The FAA is currently scheduled to release its UAS BVLOS NPRM between August and November of this year. Read the letter to the FAA here.