FAA, TSA Eye ‘Beyond Visual Line of Sight’ Drone Operations Rule

The proposal is necessary to support the integration of UAS into the national airspace system (NAS), according to the FAA and TSA in their Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (download below). It is also intended to provide a “predictable and clear pathway for safe, routine, and scalable UAS operations that include package delivery, agriculture, aerial surveying, civic interest [to include wildfire recovery, wildlife conservation, and public safety], operations training, demonstration, recreation, and flight testing.” According to the FAA and TSA, operations would occur at or below 400 feet above ground level, from “pre-designated and access-controlled locations.”

The TSA also proposes making “complementary changes to its regulations to ensure it can continue to impose security measures on these operations under its current regulatory structure for civil aviation.”

Comments are due on or before Oct. 6, 2025.

“To date, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has allowed some such [BVLOS] operations through individualized exemptions and waivers to existing regulations,” according to the NPRM. “This NPRM leverages lessons learned from individual exemptions and waivers to create the repeatable, scalable regulatory framework … that would allow for widescale adoption of UAS technologies … Further, this proposed rule’s Automated Data Service requirements would provide clarity for manufacturers and service providers producing UAS and offering key enabling services, such as UTM [Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management], to UAS operators.”

Under the proposed rule, all operators would need FAA approval for the area where they intend to fly, according to the FAA’s BVLOS fact sheet (download below). They would identify the boundaries and the approximate number of daily operations, as well as takeoff, landing and loading areas, FAA reported. They also “would ensure adequate communications coverage and procedures in cases where the communications with the drone are lost.” The FAA noted that operators “would have to be familiar with airspace and flight restrictions along their intended route of flight including reviewing Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs),” and “be required to identify and mitigate any hazards.”

Operators would also use Automated Data Service Providers (ADSPs) “to support scalable BVLOS operations,” according to the FAA. “ADSPs could provide services to keep BVLOS drones safely separated from each other and manned aircraft.” The FAA would approve and regulate these entities and require the services to “conform to industry consensus standards following vetting and testing.”

Additionally, drones would have technologies that “enable them to automatically detect and avoid other cooperating aircraft,” the FAA said. They would also “yield to all manned aircraft broadcasting their position using ADS-B” and “could not interfere with operations and traffic patterns at airports, heliports, seaplane bases, space launch and reentry sites or facilities where electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft take off or land.”

The FAA is proposing two types of authorizations for BVLOS operations, depending on the scope. It also proposes requiring two positions: an operations supervisor, who would be responsible for overall safety and security, and a flight coordinator, who would “directly oversee aircraft operations and intervene to ensure safe conditions, if necessary.” Neither position would require holding an FAA-issued airman or remote pilot certificate, according to the government agency.

AAR’s Ian Jefferies on Aug. 6 released the following statement on the proposal: “It is encouraging to see this long-overdue BVLOS rule released. America’s freight railroads commend [U.S. Transportation] Secretary [Sean P.] Duffy and the USDOT, for advancing a forward-looking policy that could help unlock the full potential of unmanned aircraft systems across our national transportation network.

“Routine BVLOS operations hold tremendous potential for railroads—enhancing safety, speeding up inspections, and improving emergency response in ways that were previously limited. AAR members have long advocated for a rule that offers clarity, scalability, and meaningful safety benefits, and while we are still reviewing the rule in full, we are optimistic that today’s action represents a significant milestone toward that goal.”

BNSF, CSX and Union Pacific are among the railroads testing and/or using drones in maintenance-of-way, disaster response, security and other applications.