Marking another step toward commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday granted regulatory exemptions to six aerial photo and video production firms for use of small unmanned aircraft on closed movie and television industry sets.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the exemptions are the first in opening the door to further commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for film and television and other industries without risk to air traffic.
“I have determined that using unmanned aircraft for this purpose does not pose a risk to national air space users,” Foxx said at the outset of a conference call to announce the exemptions. “This is the first step to allowing the film and television industry to use unmanned aircraft systems in our nation’s airspace. And it’s a milestone in the wider effort to allow unmanned aircraft for many different types of commercial use.”
Foxx’ comments were echoed by Michael Toscano, head of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, who stated that the “announcement represents another important milestone in including the commercial potential of UAS technology.”
In addition to the six companies now permitted to fly small UAS on closed production sets, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said the agency is in discussions with a seventh aerial photo and video production firm for an exemption.
The agency is also considering 40 petitions from other commercial entities for using small UAS for things such as pipeline patrolling to crop surveys, Huerta said. These requests “will be addressed in the coming weeks and months,” he said.
Toscano said the FAA needs to “do more” and begin to grant these other companies exemptions for to use small UAS for “various low risk, commercial purposes.” Doing so will enable economic and job impacts, he stated.
In response to the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, the FAA can grant small UAS flight exemptions to commercial firms on a case by case basis. The agency previously has only done so for operations in the Arctic.
The FAA has also approved six test sites around the country for small UAS flight experiments in support of integrating unmanned aircraft operations into the national airspace.
In granting the new requests, which exempt the aircraft operators from general flight rules, Huerta said that safety was paramount. In addition to flying on closed sets, the production firms had to show that they could still provide “an equivalent level of safety,” he said, adding that the operators will have private pilot certificates, fly the aircraft within line of site in a sterile area of a movie set and no higher than 400 feet, and restrict operations to daytime. The aircraft must also be inspected before each flight, he said.
Night operations will be revisited when operators provide information about additional safety controls, Huerta said.
The approved applicants for UAS operations also submitted flight manuals with detailed safety procedures, Huerta said.
The film and television industry has already used UAS in movie production in international locations. Christopher Dodd, the former Democratic Senator from Connecticut and current head of the Motion Picture Association of America, said the FAA’s decision will “bring a lot of business back home” to the United States.
The FAA is currently developing a proposed rule for the operation of small UAS in the United States.That rule applies to aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds. It is due before the end of the year.
The 2012 FAA law calls for the FAA to have a plan by 2015 for integrating UAS into the nation’s air space.
The companies approved to fly UAS in support of the film and TV industries are Astraeus Aerial, Aerial MOB, LLC, HeliVideo Productions, LLC, Pictorvision Inc., RC Pro Productions Consulting LLC, Vortex Aerial, and Snaproll Media, LLC. The FAA is working with Flying-Cam Inc. on an exemption.