Policy & Regulation
Drone policy and regulation news from UASFeed — FAA rulemaking, BVLOS, Part 108, the DJI debate, export controls, and the rules shaping the uncrewed sky.
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Policy & Regulation
Gatwick's 2018 Drone Shutdown: 33 Hours, 140,000 Passengers, and No Confirmed Drone
In December 2018, a reported drone near Gatwick Airport triggered 33 hours of closure, 800 cancelled flights, and 140,000 stranded passengers — but no sensor confirmed a drone was present, no image was ever produced, and the detective who said so was removed from press duties within days.
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Policy & Regulation
New Jersey's 2024 Drone Wave: What Federal Investigators Actually Found
In late 2024, weeks of nightly drone sightings across New Jersey and the Northeast triggered a federal investigation, thousands of public tips, and emergency airspace restrictions—before a four-agency joint statement concluded most reports were misidentified manned aircraft, with no foreign nexus and no national security threat.
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Policy & Regulation
Coast Guard's First Multi-City Counter-UAS Deployment Guards the 2026 FIFA World Cup
The U.S. Coast Guard is running its first-ever simultaneous multi-city domestic counter-drone operation, covering 13 World Cup matches across Boston and San Francisco plus Sail 250 celebrations in four cities, backed by $150 million in C-UAS investment and 140 trained personnel.
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Policy & Regulation
ITAR, MTCR, and the Rules That Gave China a Decade’s Head Start in the Armed-Drone Market
The United States spent nearly two decades applying WMD-era missile controls to modern ISR drones, effectively banning sales to most partners while China and Turkey filled the market. A 2020 speed-based carve-out and a 2025 fighter-aircraft review standard are the belated correction.
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Policy & Regulation
The Sound Standard Drone Delivery Doesn't Have Yet
Drone noise sits in household-appliance decibel territory but is measurably 4–10 dB more annoying than jet aircraft at equal sound pressure. A patchwork of bespoke FAA rulings and an unfulfilled congressional mandate have left communities in Texas and Australia with no effective regulatory recourse.
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Policy & Regulation
From ISM Bands to Part 88: How U.S. Drone Spectrum Regulation Works
Most commercial drones fly on unlicensed ISM spectrum shared with Wi-Fi and baby monitors — a structural problem for BVLOS operations that require aviation-grade, interference-protected command links. Here is how a 2012 ITU allocation became Part 88, and what remains unresolved.
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Policy & Regulation
Europe’s U-Space Framework: What the Three 2021 Regulations Actually Require
The EU’s U-space package — three implementing regulations adopted April 2021 and applicable since January 2023 — makes digital airspace services a legal prerequisite for drone operations in designated zones. Here is how the certification regime, four mandatory services, and risk methodology actually work.
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Policy & Regulation
The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024: What It Mandates for Drones
Public Law 118-63, signed May 16, 2024, mandates a BVLOS rule, rethinks Remote ID, and funds a five-year runway for aerial autonomy. Here is what every operator and developer needs to know.
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Policy & Regulation
The FAA's Four-Category Rules for Flying Over People, Explained
The FAA's Operations Over People rule, effective April 21, 2021 (as corrected), replaced a blanket waiver requirement with a four-category framework that stratifies access by kinetic energy risk. Here is how the categories work, what Remote ID unlocks — and what it doesn't.
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Policy & Regulation
Part 107 Night Ops: How the 2021 Reform Ended Five Years of Waiver Bureaucracy
The FAA’s April 2021 rule change ended the requirement that commercial drone pilots obtain individual waivers to fly at night, replacing it with two standardized conditions: updated training and a compliant anti-collision strobe visible for 3 statute miles.
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Policy & Regulation
“If You Fly, We Can’t”: How Wildfire TFRs Work and What They Cost Violators
A single recreational drone over an active wildfire can ground an entire air tanker fleet for hours. The FAA’s TFR framework under 14 CFR §91.137, FDC NOTAMs, and civil penalties now reaching $75,000 per violation explain why federal enforcement has hardened.
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Policy & Regulation
UK Drone Law in 2026: The CAA’s Open, Specific, and Certified Framework Explained
Post-Brexit, the UK CAA runs its own UAS framework, diverged from EASA since December 2022. Here is what pilots need to know: three operational categories, UK class marks, updated registration thresholds, Remote ID rollout phases, and how Specific-category authorisation works after the OSC-to-UK SORA transition.
