The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 was signed into law by President Trump on Friday, October 5th. This law contained many controversial and historic changes for our country regarding drones. It is no exaggeration to say that its impact will be felt for decades to come.
In this video I explain those four major changes. For a complete article on this topic, go to my LinkedIn profile (search for Brett Hoffstadt, PMP) and find my article from October 10, 2018. For a comprehensive how-to guide on building a safe, legal, and profitable drone operation under this new law, read my book "Success with Drones in Civil Engineering" (bit.ly/drones4CE). In it you'll find the standards, processes, success cases, lessons learned, and additional resources you need to be successful.
Big change #1: It provides 5 years of funding for the FAA, through 2023. Learn why this is unusual and important in the video.
Big change #2: Expansion and maturity of LAANC. LAANC is Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability. It is the IT & regulatory infrastructure that provides the ability of individual UAS operators to request authorization to fly in controlled airspace (e.g., near airports) and quickly receive FAA authorization to fly. Think minutes instead of weeks or months. Huge difference! It has even more implications with the 2018 law. Watch to learn more.
Big change #3: Removal of the 336 Exemption. To translate: hobby and recreational drone flyers (and old-school radio control pilots) no longer have immunity or exemption from the FAA. This is the most controversial change in the 2018 law. It recognizes the reality that our modern consumer drones are more aircraft than toys. I'm happy to see this change, even as someone who learned a lot about aerospace engineering by building and flying balsa wood R/C airplanes. In the video I explain more profound changes that will happen as a result of this one change.
Big change #4: Government entities are allowed to conduct counter-UAS activities. This was previously illegal for everyone. It was even illegal for a company to advertise they were working on this capability because it was treated the same (legally) as advertising for the ability to hijack an airliner. That alone was a federal offense! Watch the video to learn what this means over the next 5 years.
Those are four historic and revolutionary changes in the 2018 FAA Reauthorization. Our world is going to look a lot different in the next five years as drones become a major part of our economy and national infrastructure.
If you want to benefit from the dramatic growth of commercial drones thanks to the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act, you need to learn how to build a safe, legal, and profitable drone operation. Something that is helping a lot of people do that is my book. Several people have said they have given or bought a copy for every person on their UAS team. It's a bargain compared to the cost of crashing one of your drones. Or wasting months of effort learning by yourself how to make a safe, legal, and productive plan. Find the 2018 USA edition on Amazon here: bit.ly/drones4CE. This link may not work after 2018. The 2018 edition of the book also has discounts for valuable drone products and services that expire in 2018.
While many of the use case examples come from civil engineering, the fundamentals still apply to any industrial or commercial application.
Here's looking ahead to the next 5 years with drones in the USA. Stay safe, legal, and productive.
In other words, take care and take charge!