The Need for Regulations

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was created in 1958 in response to a series of fatal accidents and midair collisions involving commercial aircraft. The FAA was mandated to develop plans and policies for the use of navigable airspace to ensure the safety of aircraft and the efficient use of airspace. Prescribed air traffic regulations should cover the flight of aircraft (such as safe altitudes) for navigating, protecting, and identifying aircraft; protecting individuals and property on the ground; using the navigable airspace efficiently; and preventing collision between aircraft, between aircraft and land or water vehicles, and between aircraft and airborne objects.

Since the creation of the FAA, American airspace has become one of the most regulated fields in the United States. With the introduction of UASs, the FAA has had to examine and ensure that these pilotless aircraft can operate safely and meet all the above-mentioned regulations. The NAS is already congested with piloted aircraft, and adding a swarm of UAVs requires thoughtful planning. The FAA's main mandate is to ensure that UASs do not endanger current users of the NAS (including manned or other unmanned aircraft) nor compromise the safety of the people and property on the ground.

When it comes to the safe operation and integration of the UAS into the NAS, one of the main concerns that the FAA has is the lack of detect, sense, and avoid capability of the current UAS technology. The FAA did a thorough literature review to stand on what is possible and what is not along this line. The article listed in the reading assignment of this section details the FAA quest for the detect, sense, and avoid possibilities.

Despite all the challenges that faced the UAS integration, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has made significant progress in integrating unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS). A major milestone was the introduction of Part 107 in 2016, which established the first comprehensive regulatory framework for commercial small UAS operations in the United States. This rule provided clear operational guidelines and opened the door for widespread professional drone use.

Since then, the FAA has continued advancing UAS integration, responding to congressional direction and growing industry demand. At several FAA UAS Symposiums in Baltimore, FAA officials emphasized that UAS technology is evolving quickly and that collaboration with industry and researchers is essential to ensure safe integration into the NAS.

One of the key challenges remains detect-and-avoid capabilities. While technologies for detecting other aircraft and obstacles are improving, the automated “avoid” component—making safe, real-time decisions—remains more difficult to achieve reliably. As in all aviation, complete elimination of risk is unrealistic; integration requires managing risk rather than eliminating it entirely.

The FAA deserves credit for its continued progress. In addition to Part 107, the agency has expanded operations to include night flights, operations over people, and Remote ID requirements. Looking ahead, the FAA is developing Part 108, which aims to enable routine Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations—an important step toward scaling many commercial drone applications.