A U.S. government watchdog agency says it is beginning an audit of the approval and oversight processes used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in granting waivers to operators of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
The Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said last week that the audit was needed “given the significant safety implications of integrating UAS into the National Airspace System and the increasing number of both requested and approved UAS waivers.”
The FAA published a rule in June 2016 for operations of small UAS (aircraft weighing less than 55 lb [25 kg]), but the rule does not permit several potential uses of UAS, including operating at night or beyond the operator’s line of sight. Operators that want to engage in such operations may apply for waivers, and the FAA says it has received more than 1,000 applications since August 2016. Of th…
