BVLOS Timeline: A Decade of Delays and Incremental Progress
The push to allow Past Visible Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations has spanned over a decade, marked by bureaucratic inertia and repeated missed deadlines. Right here’s how the rulemaking course of has unfolded:
2010s: Early Foundations
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2016: FAA first acknowledges want for BVLOS guidelines in its UAS Integration Roadmap, however no concrete motion follows.
2021–2022: Advisory Committee Efforts
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June 2021: FAA establishes the BVLOS Advisory Rulemaking Committee (ARC) with ~90 trade stakeholders.
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March 2022: ARC submits a 381-page report with 70 suggestions, together with risk-based requirements, simplified approvals for low-risk operations, and airspace integration pathways.
2023–2024: Legislative Deadlines Set (and Missed)
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Might 2024: Congress passes the FAA Reauthorization Act, mandating:
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A Discover of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) by September 16, 2024.
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A ultimate rule by January 2026.
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August 2024: FAA Deputy Administrator Katie Thomson pledges the NPRM will publish by December 2024.
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September 16, 2024: FAA misses the NPRM deadline, citing interagency coordination challenges.
Late 2024: Regulatory Limbo
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November 2024: Draft rule enters evaluate on the White Home Workplace of Administration and Funds (OMB), usually a 90-day course of.
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December 2024: FAA management insists the NPRM is “on monitor” for launch by early 2025, however offers no specifics.
2025: Mounting Uncertainty
As of this week, the NPRM stays unpublished. FAA reiterates dedication to the January 2026 ultimate rule deadline however faces challenges, together with staffing shortages and important vacancies in FAA’s rulemaking workplace, and potential regulatory freezes in the course of the 2025 presidential transition
Firms like Zipline and Ameriflight, which have relied on waivers for years, warn that extended delays might shift funding abroad.
The Lengthy Street Forward?
Whereas Secretary Duffy’s latest feedback counsel momentum, the FAA’s monitor file fuels skepticism. For context, the Distant ID rule (finalized in 2021) took 4 years to implement after its NPRM. The Half 107 small drone rule (2016) required 6 years of revisions to develop fundamental operations like nighttime flights.
Stakeholders now query whether or not the FAA can ship BVLOS guidelines earlier than 2027—regardless of Congress’ 2026 deadline.
This timeline underscores a stark actuality: even with legislative mandates and trade consensus, advancing drone laws stays a sluggish, fragmented course of. As Duffy famous, the U.S. dangers ceding management if it can not translate urgency into motion..