Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. We have three stories for you this week. A Zipline drone has a mishap. We have a Part 108 progress update, maybe. And then we have the FCC getting over 3,800 comments to their proposal. Let’s get to it.
Zipline Drone Comes Down Under Parachute Near Houston
First up this week, a Zipline drone near Houston, Texas experienced a mishap this week. According to Zipline, the aircraft was on its way to pick up an order when it experienced a mid-flight issue and deployed a parachute. The aircraft ended up descending under the parachute, coming to rest on the road. No property was damaged and no one was hurt as a result of the mishap.
This is not really the first mishap that we’ve heard from drone delivery. We’ve covered them this year. But this is the first one that has come down under a parachute with really no damage on the ground, which kind of makes a case for using parachutes in these types of operations.
Back in February, we talked about the Amazon drone that hit an apartment building in Richardson, Texas. And then nearly a year ago, two Amazon drones hit a crane in Tolleson, Arizona back-to-back, one after the other.
There’s currently no word on what the issue was with the Zipline aircraft, but we’ll keep you updated as we hear more. I’m sure the FAA and probably the NTSB will be taking a look at that.
TSA Plans Closed-Door Part 108 Security Talks After the Final Rule
Next, TSA is planning some closed-door talks about Part 108 security, and the meetings are going to be happening after the final rule is released — at least that’s what they’re telling us. Requests to participate are due on October 19.
What this actually suggests is that the security portion of Part 108 is not ready and won’t be ready until after the FAA publishes their portion. The format of these meetings appears to be round-table style discussions with individual views rather than a group recommendation. In addition to all of this, there is no public comment period that is going to be open for this, which I think is a big mistake.
Currently, Part 108 is with OIRA, which is the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. OIRA also has private meetings that are booked through September 16. So publication of the rule before all of this is very unlikely.
If you’re not familiar, OIRA’s job is to review major draft rules to make sure that they help the public more than just the cost to run the programs, keep paperwork low, and ensure that the new rules do not conflict with other agency rules.
Now, currently it’s unclear if the TSA rule will be included in Part 108. There was a big section, if you remember from the proposal, if you were there to watch this proposal come through. But we’re not sure if it’s going to be included in Part 108 or if it’s going to come out as a separate rule. We’ll be following this very closely, obviously, and we’ll keep you updated if we see more.
FCC Military-Grade Definition Notice Draws 3,829 Comments
And then last up, the FCC’s military-grade definition notice got 3,829 comments. And guess what? We went through all of them.
I’ll give you some quick facts here, and then I recommend that you go and check out the full video on the proposal that we just put on the channel.
98.6% of the filings oppose the proposal as written. Of the 1,584 filings that engaged with the definition of military grade, 1,575 — that’s a lot — called it overbroad. Only 30 of them agreed with the security risk being as acute as the Commission described. And only one — one out of 3,829 — agreed that the economic impact would be minor and contained.
The full video details all of the stats, provides the quotes from the users, and also shows you how to access the data for yourself. Make sure you go and check it out.
The conversation is going to continue in Postflight, where we talk about all of these stories uncensored in the premium community. We’re also going to see you on Monday for the live Q&A. We’re back after two weeks — we were traveling for one of those, and then there was a holiday in there. So be sure to check out the full breakdown on the responses for the FCC notice, and we’ll see you all then.
This article is based on a video from our YouTube partner Greg Reverdiau. Watch the full weekly UAS news update on the Pilot Institute YouTube channel, and find more of Greg’s work on his DroneXL author page.
