Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Federal Actions Needed to Ensure Safety and Expand Their Potential Uses within the National Airspace System

GAO-08-511, May 15, 2008

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Government and private-sector interest is growing in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for use in a variety of missions such as U.S. border protection, hurricane research, law enforcement, and real estate photography. However, UASs can fly only after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducts a case-by-case safety analysis. GAO's research questions included (1) What are the current and potential uses and benefits of UASs? (2) What challenges exist in operating UASs safely and routinely in the national airspace system? and (3) What is the federal government's response to these challenges? To address these questions, GAO reviewed the literature, interviewed agency officials and aviation stakeholders, and surveyed 23 UAS experts.

UASs are currently being used by federal agencies for border security, science research, and other purposes. Local governments see potential uses in law enforcement or firefighting and the private sector sees potential uses, such as real estate photography. An industry survey states that UAS production could increase in the future to meet such government and private-sector uses. Experts predict that UASs could perform some manned aircraft missions with less noise and fewer emissions. UASs pose technological, regulatory, workload, and coordination challenges that affect their ability to operate safely and routinely in the national airspace system. UASs cannot meet aviation safety requirements, such as seeing and avoiding other aircraft. UASs lack security protection--a potential challenge if UASs proliferate as expected after obtaining routine airspace access. The lack of FAA regulations for UASs limits their operation to case-by-case approvals by FAA. Anticipated increases in requests to operate UASs could pose a workload challenge for FAA. Coordinating multiple efforts to address these challenges is yet another challenge. FAA and the Department of Defense (DOD) are addressing technological challenges. DHS has not addressed the national security implications of routine UAS access to the airspace. FAA estimates that completing UAS safety regulations will take 10 or more years, but has not yet issued its program plan to communicate the steps and time frames required for providing routine UAS access. FAA is working to allow small UASs to have airspace access and has designated specific airspace for UAS testing. It plans to use data from this testing and from DOD to develop regulations, but has not yet analyzed data that it has already collected. To address its workload challenge, FAA is using more automation. Aviation stakeholders and experts suggested that an overarching entity could help coordinate and expedite federal, academic, and private-sector efforts. In 2003, Congress created a similar entity in FAA to coordinate planning for the next generation air transportation system among multiple federal agencies and the private sector.

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Recommendations for Congressional Consideration

Recommendation: To coordinate and focus the efforts of federal agencies and harness the capabilities of the private sector so that the nation may obtain further benefits from UASs as soon as possible, Congress may wish to consider creating an overarching body within FAA, as it did when it established Joint Planning and Development Office, to coordinate federal, academic, and private-sector efforts in meeting the safety challenges of allowing routine UAS access to the national airspace system.

Agency Affected: Congress

Status: Open

Comments: The House and Senate have passed their respective FAA reauthorization bills (HR 915 and S. 1451). These bills do not provide for an overarching body as described in this recommendation.

Recommendations for Executive Action

Recommendation: To obtain further benefits from UASs, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the FAA Administrator to expedite efforts to ensure that UASs have routine access to the national airspace system by finalizing and issuing a UAS program plan to address the future of UASs.

Agency Affected: Department of Transportation

Status: Closed - Implemented

Comments: FAA has developed and posted to the internet a UAS Civil/Public Roadmap that details the steps it is following and the milestones for safely introducing UASs into the national airspace system. The link to the roadmap is http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/.

Recommendation: To obtain further benefits from UASs, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the FAA Administrator to expedite efforts to ensure that UASs have routine access to the national airspace system by analyzing the data FAA collects on UAS operations under its certificates of waiver or authorization and establish a process to analyze DOD data on its UAS research, development, and operations.

Agency Affected: Department of Transportation

Status: Closed - Implemented

Comments: The FAA has begun an analysis of the data collected on UAS operations under the Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA) process through a revamping/reorganization of the data bases. Beginning in May, 2010, the COA Online website was reconfigured to contain standardized reports for initial incident/accident and monthly operating reporting. Proponents were instructed to begin reporting through the website instead of the past practice of emailing the information to the UA PO. This change, with its standardized reporting format, will allow for efficient tabulation and manipulation of the reported data. FAA is also working with the DoD, through the Policy Board on Federal Aviation, to finalize a Memorandum of Agreement that will facilitate the sharing of the safety data base information from the respective DoD services with the FAA.

Recommendation: To ensure that appropriate UAS security controls are in place when civil-use UASs have routine access to the national airspace system, the Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the Transportation Security Administration Administrator to examine the security implications of future, non-military UAS operations in the national airspace system and take any actions deemed appropriate.

Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security

Status: Closed - Not Implemented

Comments: TSA agrees that security of UAS is important, but believes existing procedures are sufficient and does not intend to implement this recommendation.