Enforcement Record To Date Shows No Citations Solely For Commercial Operation

While the FAA is quick to point out that people or companies who wish to fly a UAV for commercial purposes must have a waiver from the agency to do so, their enforcement policy apparently contains quite a bit of slack.

Forbes contributor John Goglia wrote recently that, according to his research, the FAA has not taken legal action against any individual or company using a UAV for commercial purposes as long as there is no "medium or high actual or potential risk to safety," according to an enforcement policy bulletin issued to the FAA's inspectors and lawyers last October.

According to the policy, an enforcement action is only to be pursued if "a UAS operation has a medium or high risk of endangering the operation of another aircraft or endangering persons or property on the ground.”

The upshot is, according to Goglia, that if you're operating safely, the FAA will look the other way.

Goglia goes on to say that, in his opinion, the FAA should allow any small UAV weighing under about five pounds to operate as if it were a model aircraft, whether it be for commercial or recreational use.

FMI: Proposed Part 107 Summary