Let's wrap up the month with a list of stories on regulatory developments concerning Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS):
- UK permits Amazon to test delivery drones. Particularly important is the UK will allow Amazon to experiment with practices such as operations beyond line of sight and simultaneous operation of multiple drones by a single pilot, which are currently prohibited in the U.S. but believed to be necessary for development of a commercially viable UAS delivery service.
- Concerns over the potential use of small, civilian drones as weapons of terrorism have long been part of the drone regulation conversation. We are now beginning to see examples of precisely this usage by Islamic State actors in Iraq.
- Geo-fencing has long been touted as a solution to the prospect of drone operation in sensitive or prohibited areas. For this to be a successful solution requires the cooperation of drone manufacturers in developing a software that cannot be overridden, cooperation that is far from guaranteed.