LAANC Celebrates Milestone in Drone Safety Program

The FAA issued its 1,000,000th airspace authorization for drone pilots use of airspace, a hallmark of the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) program.

The effort came about to help protect airspace utility across the aeronautical spectrum, as well as provide early interventions to a nascent UAS industry. The program automates the process for drone pilots to rapidly obtain authorization and provides notice to ATC prior to drone operation.

“This system has allowed drone pilots to gain timely access to busy airspace without sacrificing safety,” said Teri Bristol, the chief operating officer of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization. “We are grateful to everyone who helped us reach this milestone safely.”

Under Part 107 of the Federal Aviation Regulations, drone operators are required to secure approval from the FAA to operate in any airspace under the control of an air traffic facility. Prior to LAANC, airspace authorizations were done manually, susceptible to confusion and error as well as workload-induced delay for approval. In 2017, the FAA recognized the inefficiency of the manual system as they looked into the future to see a deluge of even more requests going forward. Taking advantage of the still somewhat small number of drone operators at the time, the administration created the foundation of drone ATC operations while they could, a decision that pays dividends to this day.

As LAANC turns 4 years old, the FAA looks at what it has done for the industry as well as the airspace ecosystem. The program has provided a turnkey, automated system for drone pilots of all stripes requesting to fly below 400 feet in controlled airspace. Drone pilots are able to request airspace authorizations through any of the FAA-Approved LAANC Service Suppliers up to 90 days before they plan to fly, allowing for a wide variety of commercial evolutions to the program to come into being. The system now covers 542 air traffic facilities serving around 735 airports. LAANC also allows the agency to provide drone pilots with information and guidance on where they can and cannot fly a drone.

FMI: www.faa.gov