FAA Interprets Model Aircraft Rule

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs announced that it had received a draft of a notice from the Federal Avaiation Administration interpreting its rules on Model Aircraft.

The FAA set forth its current guidance on the operation of model aircraft back in 1981 in FAA Circular AC 91-57. It published a notice in the Federal Register (72 FR 6689-6690) updating that guidance with respect to commercial operations of unmanned aircraft systems.

Notices such as this are not listed in the Unified Agenda so we have no publicly available information about what this notice might address. I would suppose, however, that with the rise of ever more sophisticated small, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that there will be additional restrictions placed upon their operations. This may include discussion about the operation of such vehicles over and around critical infrastructure facilities.

There is no telling how long this will take to clear OIRA since we have no idea how politically sensitive the notice will be.