Operational Profiles of Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Context of the US Regulatory Regime

This chapter describes current and future unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operations in the context of the regulatory regime that governs their use. Because the uses of UAS are inextricably linked to the ways in which they receive airworthiness and operational approval, it is challenging to understand how UAS are and will be used without an understanding of that regime. The use of a certificate of authorization or waiver process for public entities is described, followed by a review of the airworthiness approval process for civil operators using “Section 333 exemptions.” A description of the long-standing rules that have been in place for model aircraft hobbyists is also presented. Next, current UAS operations under these regulatory regimes are reviewed. Public and civil uses of UAS are described through examination of the publicly available approvals the FAA has provided, while hobbyist operations are described from a review of tens of thousands of UAS flights uploaded to an online drone community. The chapter identifies three regulatory regimes that have been proposed or are being developed, and then describes the types of operations that could be enabled by one or more of the regimes. These new operations are based on data collection needs for experts in non-UAS fields rather than missions proposed by those who operate UAS directly. Keywords: certificate of authorization or waiver; national airspace system; operational profile; policy; regulatory framework; UAS traffic management; unmanned aircraft system