Officials in New York are proposing changes to rules that strictly regulate drone activity within NYC, but UAV businesses and other operators hoping to see the end of the city’s quasi-blanket ban on flights aren’t likely to be singing the praises of liberalization just yet.
The modifications to the city’s draconian drone regulations are being advanced by the NYC Police Department, which will hold a public hearing on July 7 to discuss the – very relative – easing of current restrictions.
Key to those is a revised permit system that will presumably enlarge and ease authorization of utilitarian missions by companies and public administrations (don’t de-mothball those quadcopters yet, private pilots) – though only after a minimum 30-day application wait, and a $150 fee per request.
The package also sets out fines of $250 to $1,000 for anyone conducting drone flights in NYC without permits from police, or breaking operating rules during authorized outings. The full text is available here.
The proposal more or less acknowledges the city’s position of being stuck between a pragmatic and increasingly compelling rock of exploiting all the benefits of drone operation within NYC; and hard spot of legitimate yet obsessively held safety and privacy concerns about UAVs operating over such dense populations.
It comes following studies into extended aerial deployment to expand and improve critical surveys of building facades to detect signs of dangerous degradation – which in one incident led to someone being killed by falling debris.
Read more: NYC Dept. of Buildings studies facade inspections by drones
It was also likely influenced by a recently resolved lawsuit with a NYC film company that had sued the municipality over its smothering drone rules. The firm – which is widely considered to have prevailed in the clash through an out-of-court agreement expanding its flight capabilities – argued New York’s strictures violated what are legally prevailing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulation of US airspaces.
Whatever the exact drivers, the proposition clearly acknowledges drones and the usefulness of their operation as here to stay, despite longstanding city efforts to qualify that reality as “everywhere else but here.”
“As drones have been increasingly used to film stunning cinematic videos, support first responder rescue efforts, aid in research projects, and conduct surveys, it is clear that the city must balance the ever present safety and privacy concerns inherent in widespread drone use against the important gains that may result from this new technology,” the new text explains in the introduction. “(T)here has been a swell of support for the integration of these devices into recreational, commercial, educational, and governmental endeavors.”
As a result, city officials are proposing an amendment to “section 10-126 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York, (stipulating) ‘(t)he police commissioner is authorized to make such rules and regulations as the commissioner may deem necessary to enforce the provisions’… (applicable to) the take-off and landing of drones, like any other aircraft, in New York City.”
In other words, if they’re accepted, the new rule alterations will permit drone flights whose objectives are deemed productive and safe – albeit only after the not exactly New York City–minute minimum 30-day processing period.
In addition to coughing up the 150 bones for each application, meanwhile, users will also need to provide a full range of FAA certification, insurance, flight planning, and other bona fides. They then must notify “each community board for the community district or districts where the unmanned aircraft is anticipated to capture or transmit still images, audio, or video,” and stipulate the length and conditions for storing such data.
Meaning, even if the relaxations do go through, getting a drone legally aloft in NYC still won’t exactly be a walk in the park – a spot where UAV operation will remain strictly banned barring unlikely authorization.
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