The regulator on Tuesday authorized commercial drone flights without visual observers (VOs) in Dallas-area airspace for two companies: Zipline and Wing, the drone delivery subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet. The firms will manage the airspace themselves with FAA oversight.

“The industry is providing us with a lot of detailed documentation, and we’re providing a lot of oversight,” said Jarrett Larrow, regulatory and policy lead at the FAA’s Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Office. “These public-private partnerships are key to safely integrating drones into our National Airspace System.”

Both Zipline and Wing have robust drone delivery services in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in partnership with Walmart. But limiting the firms is a pesky regulation called the beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) rule, which limits drone operations to within the drone operator’s field of view of the operator.

The FAA is working to release the Normalizing UAS BVLOS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which would authorize drone operators to fly aircraft where they cannot physically see them. It expects to finalize the measure this year.

But in lieu of a firm rule, the regulator awards BVLOS permissions on a case-by-case basis through waivers. Typically, these exemptions require the companies to maintain VOs along delivery routes to monitor their drones. However, a handful of companies have been able to replace VOs with proprietary or third-party detect and avoid systems or UAS traffic management (UTM) software.

Without these permissions, drone delivery companies are greatly limited in the scope of their operations, which, in order to keep eyes on the aircraft at all times, are often constricted to small areas.

The new FAA authorization seeks to change that, at least in the Dallas area.

Beginning in August, Zipline and Wing will be allowed to deliver packages using UTM technology to keep their drones from colliding. In short, airspace would be managed by private companies with FAA oversight.

“This is the first time the FAA has recognized a third-party to safely manage drone-to-drone interactions,” said Praveen Raju, a program manager in the FAA’s NextGen Office. “As always, safety comes first, and we required exhaustive research and testing before giving the green light.”

Zipline and Wing will use UTM to share flight data and routes with other airspace users, with all flights occurring below 400 feet agl and far away from crewed aircraft. Consensus standards developed by the drone industry and accepted by the FAA describe how the technology can accommodate multiple layers of drone operations, according to the regulator.

The agency also said that Zipline and Wing since 2023 have safely conducted thousands of live drone test flights in shared Dallas-area airspace. Now, commercial flights are expected to provide the FAA with valuable information that could allow it to expand BVLOS operations without special exemptions nationwide.

The regulator on Tuesday said companies and organizations worldwide have shown interest in the project and how they can install their own UTM systems in the U.S.

“UTM is a critical piece for safe, routine, scalable BVLOS operations and to ensure everyone has equitable access to the airspace,” Larrow said. “If service providers and operators are successful in cooperatively sharing the airspace using UTM, it will be a repeatable process nationwide.”

Zipline and Wing were among the first drone delivery firms to obtain Part 135 operator permissions from the FAA and have worked closely with the regulator for years. Should the agency continue to look to the companies to pilot BVLOS operations, it may add permissions to their service areas in other states such as Arkansas, Utah, and Virginia.

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California-based MightyFly this week announced what the company is calling an “industry first” FAA authorization, granting it permission to test its recently unveiled 2024 Cento within a flight corridor between New Jerusalem Airport (1Q4) and Byron Airport (C83) in California.

MightyFly says the approval, obtained in March, is the first for a large, self-flying cargo eVTOL in the U.S., with “large” denoting a weight greater than 55 pounds. According to the FAA, the company’s UAS has a maximum takeoff weight of 550 pounds. MightyFly in January received an FAA special airworthiness certificate (SAC) and certificate of waiver or authorization (COA) to establish the corridor.

“This route is designed to connect the existing operating areas around the airports while ensuring the UAS does not overfly the city of Tracy or impact Stockton [Metropolitan Airport], which is Class D airspace,” the FAA told FLYING. “MightyFly needed the new authorization to operate in the area, but they could have started testing inside the operating areas that were previously approved.”

The firm’s March approval, which it obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, includes a COA authorizing a flight corridor up to 5,000 feet agl between New Jerusalem and Byron airports. The COA opens the ability for the company to perform what it terms “A-to-B flights” within the corridor’s general aviation airspace, allowing it to test aircraft range, among other things.

Following ground testing at its headquarters and test site, MightyFly began flying the 2024 Cento at the corridor’s origin airport on March 4. In the span of two months, the company has completed more than 30 autonomous flights, or about one every two days.

Future testing will include A-to-B flights. Eventually, it will expand to additional use cases and markets, MightyFly says.

“This is a solid vote of confidence from the FAA in our work and our ability to perform safe autonomous flights in the general aviation airspace,” said Manal Habib, CEO of MightyFly. “We now look forward to demonstrating point-to-point delivery flights with our partners in this space.”

The authorization also contains a SAC that will allow MightyFly to test Cento’s beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) capabilities, which are considered key for enabling drone delivery at scale.

BVLOS refers to the drone operator’s ability (or lack thereof) to visually monitor the aircraft in the sky. In lieu of a final BVLOS rule, the FAA awards these permissions to select companies via waiver or exemption. But for safety reasons most companies must keep their drones within view of the operator.

However, technologies such as detect and avoid and remote identification have the potential to replace human observers as they mature. MightyFly will test Cento’s detect and avoid systems and long-range command and control (C2) datalink communications while the self-flying drone is trailed by a chase airplane.

The SAC also authorizes MightyFly to begin point-to-point autonomous deliveries and proof of concept demonstrations with customers and partners. These will include deliveries of medical and pharmaceutical supplies, spare parts and manufacturing components, and consumer goods within the flight corridor.

Future demonstrations include several planned point-to-point autonomous cargo delivery flights in Michigan under a contract with the state’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification. The company is also scheduled to demonstrate Cento’s ability to autonomously load, unload, and balance packages for the U.S. Air Force in 2025. These flights, MightyFly says, will mark its “entry into the expedited delivery market.”

The 2024 Cento, MightyFly’s third-generation aircraft, is designed for expedited or “just-in-time” deliveries. Potential customers include manufacturers, medical teams, first responders, retailers, and logistics, automotive, and oil and gas companies.

The third-generation drone is built to carry up to 100 pounds of cargo over 600 sm (521 nm), cruising at 150 mph (130 knots). Under full autonomy, it is expected to be able to land at a fulfillment center, receive packages, fly to a destination, unload its cargo, and take off for its next delivery.

MightyFly’s Autonomous Load Mastering System (ALMS) autonomously opens and closes the cargo bay door, secures packages in (or ejects them from) the cargo hold, and senses the payload’s weight and balance to determine its center of gravity. The company is working with the Air Force and its Air Mobility Command to develop ALMS.

Another key differentiator for the 2024 Cento is its flexibility. The drone can handle a variety of cargo contents, densities, loading orders, and tie-down positions. That means customers won’t need to standardize their packaging or order loading processes to accommodate it. The aircraft can carry refrigeration boxes, for example, which are often used in the healthcare industry to transport organ donations or blood bags.

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The FAA bill initially passed the House in July, but the agency’s existing authorization has since been extended twice because of debates in the Senate ranging from aviation to global politics. December was a particularly chaotic time with senators using their valuable pre-holiday time to talk about border security and aid to Ukraine and Israel. They hoped to debate the list of FAA-related items over the past two weeks. However, the Boeing 737 Max 9 midair door plug incident and concerns over the FAA’s diversity and inclusion hiring plans have dominated the media and absorbed attention. Discussions around the FAA bill are now expected to take place in February. 

The overall aim of the bill is to help improve aviation technologies and the workforce by improving FAA efficiency and operations, growing the aviation workforce, upholding America’s gold standard in safety, and encouraging aviation innovation. More specifically, there has been debate around several key issues, including raising the mandatory pilot retirement age from 65 to 67 and increasing the simulator hours a pilot can log as part of the 1,500 hours needed to become an airline transport pilot. In November, Senator John Thune (R-S.D) put forth a compromise proposal to increase loggable simulator hours from 100 to 150.

As part of the National Flight Training Alliance (NFTA), made up of American leaders in the pilot training space, I believe that good will come from raising the simulator hours. 

The simulators of 2024 are not a 1990s DOS-run PC flight simulators with a joystick. The latest advanced simulators often contain an exact replica of a specific aircraft with the same avionics and controls you will find in a real airplane. This enables pilots to practice a whole range of skills, from teamwork and communication to aircraft systems and actual stick and rudder flying, if needed. Moreover, advancements in recent simulator technology, particularly in computer software and graphics, have pushed the immersion and data collection to a whole new level. The advanced data-driven training systems enable pilots and instructors to receive real-time insights and standardized evaluations for continuous pilot training improvement. This is important because efficient and economical performance evaluation is critical to the aviation industry.

These simulations promote the use of critical and evaluative thinking. Events in newer high-fidelity simulators enable students to enthusiastically contemplate the implications of a given scenario. This is vital, especially in recreating and practicing emergency procedures and scenarios, which you don’t want to do in the aircraft. Furthermore, scientific studies, including high-level, peer-reviewed journal articles on human factors, have shown that adding in unpredictability and variability into simulator training sessions improves pilot responses. It requires the pilot to apply the practiced skills and reinforces learning.

Another often overlooked benefit of simulators is teaching in one. The Roman philosopher Seneca said, “When we teach, we learn.” Scientific studies have proven this is true—teaching a topic to your student helps the teacher learn. It’s known as the “protégé effect.” NFTA board members, who include FAA Part 141/161 flight school owners and their CFIs, can attest to this. Many of us view the flight time while teaching, especially in a simulator, as superior compared to other more uneventful and repetitious methods allowed for logging flight experience. 

One can write a full-length book on this “flight training” topic, and if you did, it would be imperative to include the expertise and experience of the individuals involved in the day-to-day flight school world. This FAA bill shouldn’t be any different. It is these individuals who train the private pilots who eventually become commercial pilots who feed the airlines and other institutions. They know that time in an advanced flight simulator is highly beneficial to student pilots and instructors. They see raising the loggable simulator hours from 100 to 150 as a step in the right direction. 

Overall, now is the ideal time to modernize and update flight training in America. The pilot shortage, combined with often outdated and inefficient regulations, makes it vital that the final version of the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act allows for innovation in aircraft simulation and education. Aviation is critical to our country’s national infrastructure. This bill will provide industry and FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker with guidance on the next five years—and beyond. 

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The agency on Wednesday approved drone parcel delivery operator and UPS subsidiary Flight Forward and avionics provider uAvionix for UAS operations beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) of a remote pilot, opening the door to longer flights, new markets, and fewer restrictions on ground personnel. The authorizations follow the FAA’s granting of similar permissions to drone inspection provider Phoenix Air Unmanned (PAU) in August.

Flight Forward, uAvionix, PAU, and a fourth firm, medical drone delivery provider Zipline, initially requested BVLOS exemptions earlier this year. Their applications were published in the Federal Register for comment in May, drawing feedback from industry trade associations, aviation groups, and even rival companies. Zipline’s approval is expected to be announced in the coming weeks, the FAA told FLYING.

“The FAA is focused on developing standard rules to make BVLOS operations routine, scalable and economically viable,” the agency said in its announcement. “The agency chartered the BVLOS Aviation Rulemaking Committee on June 9, 2021, to provide safety recommendations to the FAA. We are reviewing their final report. The FAA’s long-term goal is to safely integrate drones into the National Airspace System rather than set aside separate airspace exclusively for drones.”

With the new authorizations, the FAA hopes to collect data that will inform its proposed rule on UAS BVLOS operations, also published in the Federal Register in May along with the four exemption requests. 

The agency also told FLYING companies that can recreate the approved firms’ operational conditions will now be able to obtain BVLOS approvals more quickly. It said it selected the four companies because each sought BVLOS waivers for different use cases: parcel delivery (Flight Forward), medical delivery (Zipline), inspections (PAU), and flight systems development (uAvionix).

Each use case opens a path to exemptions for companies with similar operations, allowing them to use the waivers as models for their own operations. For example, a company looking to deliver small packages might build around Flight Forward’s business.

“Our goal is to work towards summary grants as we continue towards rulemaking,” said David Boulter, FAA associate administrator for aviation safety, at the Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Summary grants are essentially streamlined authorizations for “copycat” companies with similar infrastructure, aircraft, and technology to those who have already been approved.

What’s in the Approvals?

Flight Forward’s exemption authorizes the firm to conduct BVLOS small parcel deliveries using drone manufacturer Matternet’s M2 UAS. In lieu of visual observers—ground personnel stationed along the flight path to maintain a line of sight with the drone during flight—the company will now deploy remote operation centers across its network, using them to facilitate deliveries from tens or even hundreds of miles away.

The FAA revised some of Flight Forward’s requests relating to minimum safe altitudes, VFR visibility requirements, and pilot-in-command qualifications. But the company’s application was largely accepted as submitted.

The same can be said of uAvionix, which has now been approved to test its detect-and-avoid technology on a custom UAS flying BVLOS. The UAS, called Rapace, has a maximum takeoff weight of 26.5 pounds and was granted a special airworthiness certificate—experimental class (SAC-EC) by the FAA. It includes in-house avionics, command-and-control radios, autopilot systems, and positioning sensors from uAvionix.

The company will fly Rapace within the Vantis Network, North Dakota’s statewide UAS BVLOS program, with partners such as Thales to help its customers better understand BVLOS operations and waivers.

“The concept here is that the program team works out the ‘recipe’ for BVLOS exemptions, which are repeatable by other operators in the future,” Christian Ramsey, managing director of uAvionix, told FLYING in May. “In the end, this exemption isn’t about our operations…It’s about trailblazing and developing an infrastructure that others can use to achieve their own operational and business goals.”

UAvionix will need a Letter of Authorization from the FAA to conduct operations that rely on UAS traffic management (UTM) or third-party service providers. Otherwise, its requests were largely approved with minor conditions and limitations.

Similarly, PAU has been authorized to fly the SwissDrones SDO 50 V2 unmanned helicopter for BVLOS aerial photography, surveying, and powerline and pipeline patrol and inspection. Operations are permitted below 400 feet above certain roads and in sparsely populated areas beneath preplanned flight paths.

The approval builds on the company’s Part 107 waiver, issued in March, for BVLOS operations with aircraft under 55 pounds. That permission did not cover the SVO 50 V2, which weighs about 190 pounds. Like Flight Forward and uAvionix, PAU’s requests were largely approved with some restrictions.

Zipline’s request is under review, but the firm is expected to join its fellow applicants in the coming weeks. It seeks to replace visual observers with its patented acoustic detect-and-avoid system (DAA) and other onboard systems—unlike Flight Forward, it would eliminate the use of ground personnel almost entirely.

The authorizations are clearly a welcome development for Flight Forward, uAvionix, and PAU. But not everyone supported them. A few industry groups repeatedly popped up in the comments to oppose the approvals, namely the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA), and drone connectivity solutions provider ElSight. They worried BVLOS flights could pose hazards to low-altitude manned aircraft.

The FAA, however, countered that the approvals are in the public interest. They will allow the agency to gather information on BVLOS operations as it works toward a final rule that will ultimately shape the UAS industry for years—and potentially decades—to come.

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The FAA issued its 1 millionth airspace authorization for a small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS)—also known as drones—to use busy airspace. 

The authorizations are issued by the FAA’s Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC). LAANC is an automated process for drone pilots who need to quickly gain authorization for flying in controlled airspace. LAANC provides air traffic with information about the location of drone operations.

Drones, once the purview of hobbyists, are becoming increasingly popular in the industrial sector where they are used to inspect tall buildings, construction sites, reseeding forests and for the observation of animal migration. Law enforcement and the military also use drones for surveillance and search and rescue, as the drones can cover terrain much faster than a person on foot.

• READ MORE: The Real-Life Evolution of the Drone

Drones By the Numbers

The FAA keeps track of drone restoration as well as the number of people who apply for and receive drone pilot certificates. As of the first week of February 2022:

• 860,983 drones registered
  • 328,670 drones registered for commercial use
  • 528,725 drones registered for recreational use
  • 3,588 drones registered on paper 
• 261,952 remote pilots certified
• 187,644 completion certificates issued by test administrators

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