New FAA Drone Rules

by | Jun 27, 2016 | Selling, Sue's Blog & Videos

Drone video is an important part of many of my listings marketing strategy. Country properties with land and luxury properties with views are the ones that will sparkle and shine with a drone video. The videos taken from the air can show the layout of the property lines and give viewers a good sense of how big the property is. I have hired a couple of different drone videographers in the past, but more recently have been using a professional company that uses real helicopter pilots to fly these cool gadgets.

For those that have a drone or are thinking about getting into the drone video business, here is some information that might be of importance to you.

New FAA Drone Rule In a welcome response to requests from many industries including the real estate industry, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a final operational rule for the use of commercial drones.  Taking effect late August 2016, the rule applies to drones weighing less than 55 pounds and requires a remote pilot airman certificate.

To obtain the certificate, you must be at least 16 years old and either

  1. pass an initial FAA-approved aeronautical knowledge test, or
  2. hold an existing non-student Part 61 pilot certificate, complete a flight review within the previous 24 months, and complete an FAA-provided small unmanned aircraft (UAS) online training course.

Among other restrictions, UAS pilots must keep the UAS within the visual line-of-sight, observe speed and height restrictions, and not fly the UAS over people who are not part of the UAS operation. Together with the rule, the FAA has issued an information fact sheet.

This appears to be the FAA’s first step in facilitating greater drone use.  FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said “With this new rule, we are taking a careful and deliberate approach that balances the need to deploy this new technology with the FAA’s mission to protect public safety. But this is just our first step. We’re already working on additional rules that will expand the range of operations.”