Title: FAA Tackles Increased Drone Use

Description: Commercial and personal use of drones is expected to grow
rapidly over the next several years. How is the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) responding to this increase and making sure drones
are being used safely? We'll find out from GAO's Heather Krause, an
expert on aviation safety.

Related GAO Work: GAO-23-105189, Drones: FAA Should Improve Its Approach
to Integrating Drones into the National Airspace System

Released: January 2023

[Music]

[Heather Krause:] In the coming years, FAA will need to tackle
integrating advanced drone operations.

[Holly Hobbs:] Hi and welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for
news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm
your host, Holly Hobbs. Small drones have the potential to provide
significant social and economic benefits. For example, they could be
used to inspect the safety of bridges and other infrastructure, help
respond to hurricanes or wildfires, and deliver medical supplies. While
government agencies themselves use drones in a range of ways, commercial
and personal use is expected to grow rapidly over the next several
years. So how is the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA,
responding to this increase and making sure drones are being used
safely? We'll find out from GAO's Heather Krause, an expert on aviation
safety. Thanks for joining us.

[Heather Krause:] Thank you for having me.

[Holly Hobbs:] So, Heather, drone use is expected to increase a lot and
soon. How are drones currently being used outside of government, and
what could we see one day? 

[Heather Krause:] So you have a variety of uses, you know, everything
from recreational to commercial and public safety users. FAA right now
estimates that there's over 1.5 million recreational drones out there.
So that's folks that are using them for their own personal enjoyment.
But there's also local law enforcement using it. Federal agencies using
drones. Companies using it for inspections of places that are hard to
reach. And there's this growing interest in commercial use. So what we
sort of expect in the future, what's anticipated is that these uses will
become more routine. So right now, a lot of that tends to be, especially
package delivery, are short distances or operations that are happening
within the line of sight of the operators. So companies like Amazon,
Walmart, FedEx, UPS--you know-- have or are exploring opportunities to
use drones for package delivery. But really looking to expand that to be
more routine and an expanded use as well as eventually that drones will
carry people as well.

[Holly Hobbs:] I think people are familiar with FAA role in regulating
commercial air travel. But what's the FAA's role in monitoring drones
and what actions have they taken so far?

[Heather Krause:] So FAA's mission is really safety of the National
Airspace System. And so as part of that, you know, they're focused on
the safe integration of drones with other aviation users in the National
Airspace System. So far, FAA has, issued some regulations for things
around how drones can operate over people or at night. They've also put
out requirements around remote identification of drones--so almost like a
drone license--to identify them remotely, as well as certificated or
approved aircraft type for commercial delivery operations. In carrying
out the development of regulations and operational requirements, FAA has
several planning documents. So that ranges for activities like
regulatory and rulemaking efforts, needed research and development, and
really other key activities that are needed to integrate drones into the
National Airspace System. But we found that the documents were not well
coordinated, nor do they have the key elements--such as goals and
objectives, you know, performance metrics, milestones--to really ensure
that FAA is activities are effectively supporting their efforts. When we
talk to FAA officials, they said they are working on a strategy to
better coordinate their efforts. But until that strategy is completed,
FAA runs the risk of not having the information it needs to effectively
manage their drone integration efforts, make well informed decisions,
and also ensure that limited resources are really targeted at activities
that are most beneficial to their goals.

[Holly Hobbs:] What are the requirements right now for drone users?

[Heather Krause:] There's a variety of requirements which can really
depend on the type of user operations that are being conducted. In our
work we are looking at drone operators that are trying to conduct more
advanced operations beyond what's allowed under current drone
regulations. So those types of advanced operations can include flying
multiple drones with a single remote pilot or flying beyond visual line
of sight of a drone pilot. To be able to carry out those types of
operations, operators have to request waivers or exemptions. In our
work, we found that FAA had developed several guidance documents and
resources to help with those requests, but that the documents did not
clearly communicate how applicants can meet FAA requirements and how,
FAA approaches and its process for reviewing these requests.

[Holly Hobbs:] And we talked with some drone users and stakeholders
about this issue. What did they tell us about FAA's requirements and
guidance?

[Heather Krause:] Several of the industry stakeholders we spoke with
said that FAA hadn't clearly communicated, they felt, to applicants how
they can satisfy requirements to conduct certain operations and
especially these advanced operations that they're seeking. So, for
example, some said FAA could do a better job of communicating those
requirements by developing what are called standard scenarios. That's
almost like a template that lays out key requirements and how applicants
might meet those requirements. In addition, the stakeholders also spoke
to us about a variety of challenges they had navigating FAA's process,
working with multiple FAA offices that are involved in the approval
process. For example, most industry stakeholders we spoke to said that
they were receiving conflicting information or differing opinions from
some of these FAA offices.

{MUSIC}

[Holly Hobbs:] So while the FAA has regulations on drones, industry
stakeholders said it's not always clear what these rules are. And while
the FAA has a strategy for integrating drones into the National Airspace
System, it hasn't taken steps to ensure the effectiveness of its plan.
So, Heather, what could the FAA do to improve its communication of
requirements to drone users?

[Heather Krause:] FAA should really evaluate its current guidance and
more clearly communicate how applicants can satisfy operational requests
requirements, as well as more clearly communicate FAA's process for
reviewing and approving the requests being submitted. By having better
guidance, applicants can provide FAA with the quality information it
needs to conduct its reviews. Also, more clearly communicating and
documenting FAA's process would help applicants better understand who is
involved in these reviews and what information applicants need to
provide to the various FAA offices.

[Holly Hobbs:] And what about the FAA strategy on drones? What do we
think they should be doing there?

[Heather Krause:] We recommended that FAA should develop a drone
integration strategy that includes all key elements of a comprehensive
strategy. FAA told us that they're working on one. It will be important
that the strategy is completed and includes all of those elements for
ensuring that its efforts in integrating drones are effective. 

[Holly Hobbs:] And last question, what's the bottom line of this report?

[Heather Krause:] During the last several years, FAA has made progress
in integrating routine, low-risk operations. But in the coming years,
FAA will need to tackle integrating advanced drone operations, putting
the processes in place to make them more routine, and establishing
requirements for beyond visual line-to-site and other types of
operations. To effectively accomplish this, FAA needs to have a strategy
in place to guide their activities and leverage lessons learned from
their experiences so far to improve its rulemaking and other integration
efforts.

[Holly Hobbs:] That was Heather Krause talking about our new report on
the FAA's approach for integrating drones into the national airspace
system. Thanks for sharing your report.

[Heather Krause:] Thank you.

[Holly Hobbs:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To
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