Review - FAA Sends UAS Site Restriction NPRM to OMB

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from the DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on “Designation - Restrict the Operation of an Unmanned Aircraft in Close Proximity to a Fixed Site Facility”. This rulemaking was required by Congress in §2209 the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-190, 130 STAT. 634) with a requirement to “establish a process to allow applicants to petition the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to prohibit or restrict the operation of an unmanned aircraft in close proximity to a fixed site facility” within 180 days of the enactment of that legislation. That deadline passed on January 11^th, 2017.

According to the Spring 2024 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:

“This action would implement section 2209, Applications for designation, of Public Law 114-190, the FAA Extension, Safety and Security Act of 2016 (130 Stat. 634). Specifically, this rule would establish the criteria and procedures for the operator or proprietor of eligible fixed site facilities to apply to the FAA for an unmanned aircraft-specific flight restriction. In addition, this rule would establish the substantive criteria based on the enumerated statutory considerations (i.e. national security and aviation safety) that the FAA will use in determining to grant or deny a petition, as well as the procedures for notifying the petitioner of the determination made and the process for resubmission of any denial. Lastly, this rule would establish the process to be used by the FAA to implement the unmanned aircraft-specific flight restriction and notify the public.”

Commentary

This is another regulation that the regulatory adverse Trump administration would be expected to support. Industry has been clamoring for this rulemaking to be completed to provide some measure of protection against drone threats and Trump would be expected to support those industry demands (though admittedly no action on this rulemaking was taken during his earlier administration). Unfortunately, §2209 does not authorize any actions to be taken by facilities to prevent uncrewed aerial systems from violating the airspace restrictions that could be designated by the FAA under this rulemaking. Congress has not yet authorized the private sector (and only provided limited authorization for DHS and DOJ) to take actions against UAS because of a wide variety of restrictions under US Code that would be involved in any such actions. But this is an important first step.

 

For more information on the background requirements for this rulemaking, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/faa-sends-uas-site-restriction-nprm - subscription required.