The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a Notice of Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft. This notice addresses the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for hobbyists.
Farmers, ranchers and all commercial operators are prohibited from using UAS until the FAA institutes regulations for safe integration of UAS into National Airspace, according to the FAA. Congress gave the FAA a September 2015 deadline to allow commercial drone flights, but the Office of Inspector General released an audit last week with doubts the FAA will meet the deadline.
The Notice of Interpretation clarifies the criteria an aircraft must meet to be classified as a model aircraft, provides a statutory definition of model aircraft, differentiates hobby and recreational purpose from non-hobby and non-recreational purposes and states the FAA has the authority to take action against any operator who endangers the safety of the National Airspace System.
A 30-day comment period is open and comments may be sent to http://www.regulations.gov/. Include docket number FAA-2014-0396.