AUVSI CEO sees opportunity to advance BVLOS rule

Writing on LinkedIn, Michael Robbins, President and CEO of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), says the US President’s recent State of the Union address “presents a clear and immediate opportunity for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to advance the Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) rulemaking.”

The President’s address highlighted regulatory reform and pointed to a directive requiring agencies to identify at least ten existing rule or regulations for repeal for every new rule promulgated.

Robbins says the BVLOS rulemaking would directly align with this policy by replacing a multitude of ongoing waivers and exemptions with a single, standardised enabling regulatory framework.

“As we noted in a January letter to [the Office of Management and Budget] asking that they move forward with the BVLOS rulemaking, currently, UAS operators seeking to fly BVLOS must navigate a complex, inefficient waiver system that requires separate FAA approvals for each concept of operations. These waivers, granted on a case-by-case basis, function as a patchwork of temporary regulatory exceptions rather than a scalable solution, creating uncertainty, unnecessary administrative costs, and delays for businesses and government users alike.”

Robbins says that by advancing a comprehensive BVLOS rule, the FAA could eliminate the need for hundreds of individual BVLOS waivers. replace a fragmented, labour-intensive process with a clear, scalable framework, and free up FAA resources currently dedicated to processing waivers, allowing them to focus on advancing safety initiatives and certifying new aviation technologies.

Robbins’ article follows a new call for expediting the BVLOS rule from the Commercial Drone Alliance.