Meetings Between Outside Parties an d The Office of Management and Budget Regarding

Proposed Part 107 Between May 10 and June 14, 2016, the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), hosted several meetings between outside parties and the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation regarding the Operation and Certification of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems final rule, which was then under review by OIRA. The meetings are summarized below.
U nder OIRA procedures, as set forth in Executive Order 12866, if such meetings concern regulations under review, they must be conducted by the OIRA Administrator or a specific designee, and a log, available on OIRA’s website, is kept of such meetings. For m ore information please visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/OIRA_QsandAs

. May 10, 2016 Representatives from the Office of M anagement and B udge t , the D epartment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dministration (FAA) met with representatives from AirMap

. Airmap’s representatives made the following points during th e meeting:

 Technology evolves at a rapid pace and FAA should be cognizant of this fact as it pertains to the Operation and Certif ication of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Rule . For example, technology now allows much more information to be communicated in a digestible format to the operator of an aircraft

.

 Part 107 of title 14 of the CFR should provide the operator with a pa th, through technological means, to obtain air traffic control authorization to operate in controlled airspace. Sufficient funds should be appropriated to allow this to happen.

 FAA authority should not preempt state and local law with regard to low

- altitu de UAS operations (below 200 feet) or UAS operations that take place close to a building in an area that manned aircraft are prohibited from entering. Airmap’s representatives asserted that state and local jurisdiction s know the local area and its unique operating characteristics best, and thus, state and local regulation of UAS would be more tailored to local considerations.

 Part 107 of title 14 of the CFR should require UAS operated in close proximity to an airport to notify the airport operator prior to the operation. May 13, 2016, 11:00am Representatives from the Office of Management and Budget , the Council of Economic Advisers, the D epartment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dministration (FAA) met withrepresentatives from MEASURE

. MEASURE ’s representatives made the following points

during th e meeting:

 The final rule should require a demonstration of proficiency in safely piloting a small unmanned aircraft system (UAS). This could be accomplished by requiring a person to have a certain amo unt of flight experience prior to conducting UAS operations, especially more advanced operations.

 The confined area of operation concept proposed in the NPRM would restrict the growth of the commercial UAS industry. Requiring higher levels of training for operators would enable safely expanding the permissible area of small UAS operation.

 Sacrificing a UAS should not be an option in response to an emergency. May 13, 2016, 3:30pm Representatives from the Office of Management and Budget , the D epartment of Tr ansportation , and the FAA met with representatives from the Small UAV Coalition

. The Small UAV Coalition representatives reiterated the points that were made in the comments that the Coalition filed in response to the NPRM. May 23, 2016 Representatives fro m the Office of Management and Budget , the D epartment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dministration (FAA) met with representatives from the Property Drone Consortium

. The Property Drone Consortium representatives reiterated the points that
wer e made in the PowerPoint presentation that they submitted as part of the meeting. May 24, 2016 Representatives from the Office of Management and Budget , the D epartment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dministration (FAA) met with representative s from Aerovironment

. Aerovironment’s representatives made the following points during th e meeting:

 The small UAS rule should allow section 333 exemption holders to continue operating under part 107 within the parameters authorized in their current exempti ons.

 The process for grating section 333 exemptions is currently very slow, and there should be an expedited way to obtain a 333 exemption.

 If state and local governments have too much ability to regulate UAS, it could result in unintended consequences of a patchwork of different laws applicable to UAS operations. The FAA should allow fully autonomous UAS operation within proper constraints in order to capture the full benefits of UAS. May 31, 2016, 2:00pm Representatives from the Office of Management and B udget, the D epartment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dministration (FAA) met with representatives from the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Association of Public and Land

- grant Universities (APLU)

. AAU and APLU’s representat ives made the following points during th e meeting:

 The FAA’s interpretation on student uses of UAS should be incorporated into the final small UAS rule.

 The final rule should allow low

- risk beyond

- line

- of

- sight operations. These operations could be conduc ted safely through an additional beyond

- visual

- line

- of

sight rating for the remote pilot in command airman certificate.

 The final rule should not impose any medical requirements on visual observers, and it should allow visual observers to act as a substitu te for the remote pilot in command.

 The final rule should include a micro UAS class of aircraft/operations. May 31, 2016, 3:00pm Representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the D epartment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dministra tion (FAA) met with representatives from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University

. Mercatus’ representatives made the following points during th e meeting:

 The NPRM proposal limiting external loads did not consider the benefits of these operations.

 Te chnology to safely allow beyond

- visual

- line

- of

- sight operations exists now, and the FAA should consider the costs and benefits of prohibiting these operations.

 The FAA should consider the benefits of allowing nighttime operations.

 The registration requirem ents of the UAS registration interim final rule should be subject to a cost

- benefit analysis.

 Air carrier operations should be allowed based on cost

- benefit analysis.

 Autonomous operations should be allowed if there is human override capability. Operations over people should be allowed because most economic value is created for operations conducted near people.

 The tort system and liability insurance provide risk mitigation sufficient to relax the requirements proposed in the NPRM. June 1, 2016, 1:00pm Repr esentatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the D epartment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dministration (FAA) met with representatives from the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC)

. NAMIC’s representatives made the following points during th e meeting:

 The differentiation between hobby and commercial UAS operations is unrelated to safety.

 The final rule should clarify the preemptive effect of part 107.

 The final rule should allow non

- line

- of

- sight operations if t he unmanned aircraft is operated closely to the remote pilot in command.

 The rule should clarify what “over people” means.

 The rule should clarify what a visual observer is allowed to do.

 The rule should include additional reporting requirement to gather s afety data.

 Asking for permission from homeowners to operate within 500 feet of their property is difficult and should not be included as a requirement in the rule.

 UAS are particularly useful in disaster settings because there is no infrastructure to bloc k view of the UAS. June 1, 2016, 3:00pm Representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Transportation, and the FAA met with Mr. Adam John and students from the Fall Creek Intermediate School, Fishers, Indiana. Mr. John and his students expressed concerns regarding the following:

 allowing for younger ages to operate UAS under the rule

 allowing nighttime operations with thermal cameras attached to a UAS to perform research/study

 allowing nighttime operations with UAS equipped wit h lighting to meet the visual line of sight requirement (or setting a standard for the equipment) providing special COAs for educators outside of the exemption process to allow for teaching UAS operations

 promoting, not stifling, UAS use for educational us es

 operation of UAS within the national park system for research/study purposes There were also several clarifying questions dealing with the registration IFR.

June 2, 2016 Representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Trans portation, and the FAA met w ith the Drone Manufacturers Alliance, including GoPro attending in person. Drone Manufacturer’s alliance made the following points during the meeting:

 Separate category for smaller UAS aircraft

– micro category (below 4.4 lbs) that is exempt from the airman certification and any use case scenarios. Support keeping it
s eparate from part 21

 Support operator requirements in NPRM

 NPRM strikes right balance for aircraft certification: pre

- flight inspections

 In general support operati ng rules

 Additional flexibility for BVLOS

– for different level of safety (technology

– sense and avoid, etc).

 Do not require specific technology, however. Keep requirements performance based.

 Alliance response to OMB question: Equivalent level of safet y dependent would be upon parameters of operation. What does the environment require to maintain the appropriate level of safety?

 Alliance response to OMB question: majority of manufacturers are collecting data and will rely on that data in the future to deal with safety, certification information and documentation for assisting operators determining equivalent level of safety.

 Airmen certification: happy with knowledge testing being available on line.June 3, 2016

Representatives from the Office of Manag ement and Budget, the D epartment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dministration (FAA) met with representatives from the Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA)

. CDA’s representatives made the following points during th e meeting:

 The rule should allow n ighttime operations because flying at night is safer since no people are outdoors.

 The rule should allow UAS to fly closer than 500 feet to nonparticipants in order to enable tower inspections.

 The rule should allow operations beyond

- line

- of

- sight and over people because this would allow better news reporting and would help relay post

- disaster information to emergency responders.

 The rule should clarify what “over people” means.

 UAS use would improve weather warning predictions by allowing better observatio n of the lower atmosphere.

 UAS use would also allow for less intrusive data gathering, the ability to quickly deploy technology, and the ability to detect oil leaks.

 The FAA should enable lower

- risk small UAS operation conducted by very light small UAS.

 La ck of clarity in the applicable UAS rules impedes financing.

 Regulations for commercial UAS operations should be the same as the regulations applicable to hobby UAS operations. June 6, 2016, 11:30am Representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the D epartment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dministration (FAA) met with representatives from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). NAB’s representatives made the following points during th e meeting:

 Small UAS can safely fly lowe r and produce a smaller environmental impact than manned helicopters.

 UAS are much cheaper for newsgathering than manned aircraft. The final rule should allow UAS flight to take place near people and it should clarify the prohibition on flight over people.

 The final rule should allow nighttime operations within the parameters that have been established in already

- issued § 333 exemptions.

 The final rule should not prohibit flights within five miles of an airport, and the FAA should ensure that air traffic co ntrol promptly processes requests to operate in controlled airspace. June 6, 2016, 2:30pm Representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the D epartment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dministration (FAA) met with representatives fro m CNN/Time Warner

. CNN/Time Warner’s representatives made the following points during th e meeting:

 The UAS rules should allow expanded operations that could be conducted safely once UAS technology evolves.

 Local air traffic control should have the power to allow an operation in controlled airspace.

 Nighttime operations should be permitted with appropriate mitigation.

 The final rule should allow flights to be closer than 500 feet to a person because existing camera technology cannot get a meaningful shot whe n the unmanned aircraft is 500 feet away from the subject being photographed.

 The final rule should clarify the prohibition on flight over people. June 10, 2016, 11:00am Representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the D epartment of Transporta tion , and the F ederal A viation A dministration (FAA) met with representatives from LIFT

. LIFT’s representatives made the following points during th e meeting:

 The final rule should include a process through which the FAA will grant operations of unmanned air craft systems (UAS) in certain airspace. The process should include objective criteria upon which air traffic controllers base the determination of whether to permit operations in certain airspace.

 The final rule should automatically permit UAS operations to occur beyond visual line immediately following disasters, because post

- disaster imagery is extremely valuable. In the alternative, the final rule should provide a simple, efficient process for evaluating and permitting such operations. Likewise, to obt ain imagesimmediately following a disaster, the FAA should consider permitting operations of UAS over people.

 The FAA should reconsider the availability of certificates of authorization to “public” UAS, which the FAA may grant on an expedited basis. In ad dition, the FAA should be aware the general process for obtaining a certificate of authorization is inefficient. June 10, 2016, 2:00pm Representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the D epartment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dm inistration (FAA) met with representatives from Autel Robotics USA

. Autel Robotics’ representatives made the following points during th e meeting:

 Beyond

- visual

- line

- of

- sight (BVLOS) operations can safely be allowed my using transponders and machine learnin g as safety mitigations. The final rule should allow BVLOS operations to keep the U.S. competitive with the rest of the world.

 Autel Robotics’ technology allows UAS to maintain link with the control station while the unmanned aircraft is two miles away fr om the control station.

 The final rule should allow the simultaneous operation of multiple aircraft because existing technology allows one person to safely operate as many as 10 unmanned aircraft simultaneously. The operation of multiple aircraft would al low for better disaster response. June 13, 2016 Representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the D epartment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dministration (FAA) met with representatives from Cape Productions

. Cape Productions’ repr esentatives made the following points during th e meeting:

 The final rule should relax the proposed prohibition on flight over people. Cape Productions operates in ski resorts, and the controlled

- access environment that they have to set up to comply with t his prohibition impedes normal ski resort operations.

 Cape Productions is implementing technology that allows users log into a system via the internet, and remotely control a UAS.

 The final rule should change the definition of “pilot” to refer to a person who has master control over the small UAS operation.

 The visual

- line

- of

- sight and no

- operation

- of

- multiple

- UAS provisions proposed in the NPRM would create an economic burden because operators would have to hire more pilots to operate their UAS if these pr ovisions are finalized as proposed. The final rule should relax the proposed operational restrictions for operations conducted in privately owned controlled

- access environments. June 14, 2016 Representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the D e partment of Transportation , and the F ederal A viation A dministration (FAA) met with representatives from the News Media Coalition (NMC)

. NMC’s representatives made the following points during th e meeting:

 Using a UAS is significantly cheaper than using mann ed

- helicopters for newsgathering. Manned helicopters are louder and pose a potentially higher safety risk than small UAS.

 NMC discussed television programs that UAS could be used to film.

 NMC participated in UAS training at the Virginia Tech test site tha t goes above and beyond the knowledge testing proposed in the NPRM. NMC members will likely require similar levels of training for their employees even if not required to do so by the final rule.

 The final rule should allow UAS to fly over people while th e UAS is in transit to its destination. Alternatively, the flight

- over
- people prohibition should be limited to only prohibit flights over dense crowds.

 The final rule should allow UAS to operate closer than 500 feet to a person. The rule should also no t impose a specific numerical stand

- off

- distance requirement.

 The rule should allow people who have taken a knowledge test at a test site to substitute passage of that test for passage of the NPRM

- proposed initial aeronautical knowledge test.