U.S. Reps. Dina Titus (D- NV), Julia Brownley (D-CA), and David Rouzer (R-NC) joined several other Congressmembers in urging the Federal Aviation Administration to issue guidance for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
In a letter to Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolan, the lawmakers encouraged the agency to issue guidance enabling low-risk shielded operations in a “safe and efficient manner” for UAS. The guidance would provide state departments of transportation, as well as many small-to-medium-sized businesses that use drones to inspect critical infrastructure, with certainty, efficiency, and cost savings, the representatives said.
“Shielded operations offer high levels of value with lower levels of risk. Consider infrastructure inspection—forty-nine of fifty states have begun to use drones to inspect expensive, complex, aging infrastructure,” the letter said. “Drone inspections can be safer than manual methods, enabling human inspectors to see confined or difficult spaces—like bridge trusses to power plant smokestacks—without placing themselves in danger. And drone inspections can be more efficient and cost-effective.”
Substituting drones for transportation workers can save lives, the representatives argued. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 4,764 fatal work injuries in the U.S. in 2020, 47.4 percent were “workers in transportation and material moving occupations and construction and extraction occupations.”
“Increased usage of UAS for these types of operations stands to significantly reduce this fatality rate,” Titus’ office said. “With the advent of advanced cameras and obstacle avoidance technology, those shielded operations can be conducted in very close proximity to structures, significantly reducing the risk of encountering crewed aircraft. Under the current rules, flying drones BVLOS requires a waiver—even in these low-risk, high-value scenarios.”
The letter was also signed by U.S. Reps. Ted Budd (R-NC), André Carson (D-IN), Shelia Jackson Lee (D-NY), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), John B. Larson (D-CT), Brian J. Mast (R-FL), Frederica S. Wilson (D-FL), and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ).