New FAA rules give businesses an easier way to get pilot license

The Federal Aviation Administration’s new drone laws went into effect on Monday, and it will likely mean a big expansion in the use of commercial drones.

New rules by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) became effective yesterday; clarifying what was acceptable commercial usage of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones.

Many businesses plan to use drones at night or out of direct eyesight.

-Limit drone operations to the hours from a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset.

Under the new rules operators can only fly from sun up to sundown, must stay under 400 feet, cannot fly above people and must keep visual contact with the drone at all times.

Pilots can ask the FAA for a waiver from some rules.

He said the use of drones could also save lives.

“It may be an automated front portal, but on the back end, we’re doing a lot of things manually until we have the resources to completely automate it”, Lawrence said last week. The agency estimates 600-thousand commercial drones will be flying in the USA within the year.

The new rules simplify the process of flying legally. Drones are also prohibited to be heavier than 55 pounds (25kg), and all unmanned aircraft must be registered.

Getting a pilot’s license is expensive and time-intensive, and some of the skills taught aren’t applicable to flying a drone.

Read Google Announces Drone Delivery Service: Project Wing to Be Available in “Less than a Decade”.

We are in “one of the most dramatic periods of change in the history of transportation”, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has said.

And, the likelihood of seeing a drone over your home may increase as the FAA predicts as many as 600,000 drones will be used this year.

He says it will provide an untapped industry for commercial drone photography.

The new guidelines allow the commercial use of a drone – without a licensed pilot – as long as the user can pass a new aptitude test.

While in the air, drones aren’t allowed to fly over people who aren’t part of the group (so no spying on your neighbors or checking out what’s going on across the park), and they also can’t go over 400 feet in the air or faster than 100 miles per hour.