The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Inspector General has issued a damning report on the FAA’s oversight of commercial drones, saying that the agency has “limited knowledge of where UAS actually operate and limited means to oversee [commercial] operators.”
The Inspector General’s Audit Report, reposted here by Insurance Journal, concludes that the FAA is insufficiently trained, has poor communication systems,lacks good oversight process, and has not enforced drone laws sufficiently.
The report, authored by DOT’s Assistant Inspector General Matthew Hampton, is the result of a year-long audit of the FAA’s oversight of commercial drones performed between October 2015 and October 2016.
The report says that the FAA streamlined it’s process of granting commercial licensing for drone operators too quickly, resulting in slipshod procedures that did not track operators effectively or even ensure that operators understood the requirements clearly.
“[Streamling procedures allowed] FAA to increase its processing rate, and the rate of exemptions granted increased over five-fold in 1 month. However, FAA’s process does not verify that operators actually meet or understand the conditions and limitations6 of their exemptions either before or after the application is approved,” says the report. “Instead, FAA relies solely on information provided up front by applicants. As a result, we identified instances where exemption holders were not in compliance with their approval (e.g., flying a UAS without a required pilot’s license) or did not understand certain exemption provisions (e.g., prohibited night operations).”
Operators aren’t the only ones who come under fire for not thoroughly understanding the process. Hampton says that FAA staff is untrained on commercial drones and therefore unable to adequately oversee the process of granting commercial licenses: “FAA safety inspectors have received only limited UAS-related training and guidance,” writes Hampton. “For example, as of April 2016, there were no formal, instructor-led training courses and only two outdated online courses available to inspectors focused on UAS technology.”
The Audit found the lack of a risk-based process of oversight problematic, and criticized the FAA’s focus on education over enforcement. The report concludes with recommendations that include the development of comprehensive drone training for inspectors, improved communications systems with field offices, development of risk-based oversight procedures, and the periodic testing of commercial drone operators.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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The lack of Enforced DRONE Laws has been a horrible fact here in Wichita Kansas for some time now. Here in the Air Capital of the world there is so many UAVs in the air day and night and not one law department will take charge to stop the misuse of drones. I personally have been in contact with the FAA here in Wichita Kansas in the past two years with proof of the misuse of these drones and have been ignored and left alone to deal with this problem. Let me tell you it is a huge problem here in the Air Capital of the world. Wichita Kansas has the most skilled and talented Air Plane builders in the US OF A. The extreme home built drones being built here in Wichita are not under any law or supervision and are going to be a huge problem to control for any law department. I just pray that one day one of these departments stops and just looks up in the sky and can see and fully understand how dangerous these things are and can be when used in a criminal way. The Air Force base here is blind to what they cant see on there radar so if it is not on radar then there is no problem. I think that is stupid from my prospective. Ok USAF Think about this Fact just across the tarmac there are drones being built under contract at Boing. If there were to be drones that can fly undetected to radar these would be here in Wichita. Now how many aircraft employees do you think have there own personal home built drones that are used in a unlawful way. More than you think.
If you fly like you spell and write, i hope you are staying on the tarmac!
What’s up with all the drug ads dispersed in this article? Hacked?
What’s up with all the drug ads dispersed in this article? Hacked?
Example: https://dronelife.com/2015/12/13/metronidazole-250-mg-for-dogs/
*edit – now the page is rendering properly and the ads and drug links are dead. Nice job