Drone pilots who inspect cell towers near airports have long hit the same wall: the job is at the top of the structure, and the UAS Facility Map grid ceiling sits well below it. Under a new FAA order taking effect Oct. 31, 2026, many of those flights will no longer need coordination with the air traffic control facility.

FAA Order JO 7200.23E, Processing of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Requests, replaces JO 7200.23D, dated April 6, 2023. The order is internal guidance from the Air Traffic Organization (initiated by AJV-P) that tells controllers and FAA staff how to handle drone airspace requests. It has no new regulation in it, but it changes what operators can expect to get approved, and how fast. DroneXL, which reported the change on Oct. 9, counted 36 listed policy changes in the new version.

Three changes matter most to working pilots: a new path for vertical-structure inspections, written rules for Class E surface areas, and a see-and-avoid waiver built into every Part 91 UAS approval.

Tower inspections: above the grid, no tower call

New paragraph 3-5 covers vertical structure inspections. The order gives cell towers, communications towers and high-rise buildings as examples. It excludes structures with horizontal spans, naming bridges and power lines. Those inspections keep going through the normal process.

For qualifying structures, the order says coordination with the air traffic control facility (ATCF) is not required for altitudes above the UASFM values when a Part 107 visual-line-of-sight inspection meets every one of these conditions:

  • The drone stays within a 100-foot radius of the structure.
  • It flies no more than 100 feet above the uppermost portion of the structure.
  • It stays 2 nautical miles from airport landing surfaces unless otherwise authorized.
  • It remains 500 feet below and 2,000 feet horizontally from clouds.
  • Flight visibility is at least 3 statute miles.

LAANC does not handle these. The order says vertical-structure inspection requests go through FAADroneZone, even at LAANC-enabled facilities. An operator who wants above-grid inspection access files a standard airspace authorization request, not an instant one.

The terms on the other end are generous. DroneXL reports that tower-inspection authorizations can run up to 24 months, and that a Service Center can write a nationwide authorization for a company. For an inspection firm working tower sites across many airport areas, a single long-lived authorization could replace a series of per-site requests.

Class E surface areas, now in writing

Paragraph 3-3 deals with requests in Class E surface areas. The FAA says the subject is new to the document: the order's list of changes notes that paragraph 3-3 was added "as this type of request was not addressed in previous versions of the order."

The rules use concentric circles measured from the airport reference point (ARP):

  • Within 2 NM: not authorized without prior coordination and approval from the ATCF.
  • More than 2 NM to 3 NM: at or below 100 feet AGL.
  • More than 3 NM to 4 NM: at or below 200 feet AGL.
  • Beyond 4 NM: at or below 400 feet AGL.

All of those altitudes are authorized only when the ceiling is at least 1,000 feet. On a low-overcast day, the default allowances in the order do not apply.

For operators, the result is predictability. A pilot planning a job 3.5 NM from a Class E surface-area airport can now look up the expected ceiling, 200 feet AGL, in the order itself, unless the facility has published its own map that does not follow the circles. In that case the facility's map governs.

Single-day by default, multi-day for responders

Paragraph 3-7 covers how long authorizations last. At LAANC-enabled facilities, airspace authorizations that comply with UASFM values are issued for one day. Multi-day authorizations at grid altitudes are reserved for first responders, when that provides a benefit.

The order does leave some room for operations above the grid altitude. Under paragraph 3-7(a)(2)(iii), Service Centers may add a buffer of up to 14 days for weather cancellations or delays, with ATCF approval, so a weather scrub does not force a new filing.

For commercial operators, routine grid-altitude work at LAANC facilities will be handled one day at a time. Public-safety agencies get the longer windows.

Hobbyists: tighter near airports

Recreational flyers operating under 49 U.S.C. 44809 get a firmer line. According to DroneXL, recreational requests inside 2 NM "are not authorized." Individuals will not be granted approval for fixed flying sites, which are reserved for community-based organizations. A hobbyist who wants a regular field close to an airport will need to go through a club or community-based organization, not an individual request.

A see-and-avoid waiver in every Part 91 approval

Chapter 5 of the order states that a waiver to 14 CFR 91.113(b), the general see-and-avoid requirement, is incorporated into all Part 91 UAS approvals. NATA, the National Air Transportation Association, highlighted the same point in its Oct. 6 summary of the order, calling it a requirement for all Part 91 UAS approvals to include a waiver of the see-and-avoid provisions.

The rule was written for pilots in cockpits, and a drone has no pilot on board to see and avoid other aircraft. The order says VLOS and BVLOS Part 91 operations alike need relief from it.

The order also widens the Part 107 waiver list. Paragraph 4-1(d) adds 14 CFR 107.145, operations over moving vehicles, to the regulations that can be waived.

What is not covered

DroneXL notes that the order excludes airspace delegated to the Department of War. Operators near military-controlled airspace should not assume the new procedures apply there.

The order also has its limits for inspectors. The above-grid allowance covers only Part 107, visual-line-of-sight work on vertical structures, within the stated geometry and weather minimums. Bridges, power lines, flights inside 2 NM of landing surfaces without separate authorization, and flights in marginal weather all fall back to the standard process. NATA's summary notes that the order also covers beyond-visual-line-of-sight requests, which this inspection allowance does not extend to.

Why It Matters

Tower and rooftop inspection is everyday commercial drone work, and the work happens at the top of tall structures, often near airports where facility-map grids drop low. Under 7200.23E, a qualifying inspection that stays tight to the structure and meets the weather minimums needs no ATCF coordination for the above-grid altitude, and, per DroneXL, may be covered for up to two years or nationwide.

The rest of the order shifts things in more than one direction. Class E surface-area operators get written, predictable limits. First responders keep multi-day grid access that commercial operators do not. Individual hobbyists lose a path to fixed sites near airports. Every Part 91 drone approval now comes with a see-and-avoid waiver. Operators with pending or recurring requests should check them against the new order before Oct. 31.

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