Hylio authorised to fly multiple drones simultaneously in commercial applications

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted an exemption to drone operator Hylio to officially be able to swarm UAS which are ABOVE 55 lbs. Under this exemption, Hylio can now swarm up to three 55 lb.+ UAS at a time with only one pilot and no visual observer (VO) needed. The authorisation also extends to UAS operations at night.

Hylio breaks new ground with this authorisation and says it sets a precedent for other companies (such as Hylio’s customers) to cite it and soon access the same permissions. These permissions apply to all UAS models which meet the explicit operational and safety criteria outlined by the FAA in the exemption.

All of Hylio’s models, controlled by Hylio’s proprietary AgroSol GCS software, comply with the FAA’s criteria. In summary, Hylio customers will now be able to legally operate swarms of 55 lb.+ UAS with only a single operator and no VO once they file this exemption; Hylio is able to assist with this filing. The FAA docket number for this exemption is FAA-2023-1833, available here